Naruto - My Name
by EagleTsubasa
Summary: AU. Despite his happy life with his parents and friends, Naruto is well aware of the dislike that the villagers have for him. Having become a shinobi, friendship and trust is now more important than ever. However, it's only a matter of time before Naruto learns that he isn't as human as he thought he was, leaving him torn between the demon that he was, and the human that he is now.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

 ** _Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Naruto is the property of Kishimoto Masashi._**

Please note that all translations will be included at the end of the chapter.

 **IMPORTANT!** If you came here looking for a simple rewrite of the series with a more powerful/smarter Naruto, or a story in which Naruto is betrayed because he's a demon, or something equally clichéd, you came to the wrong place, I'm afraid. This is an entire rewrite, including new characters, new jutsu, new circumstances, new missions, etc. Nothing about this is the same. This is entirely different to the usual "Naruto is actually a demon" stories that you might have seen before. This is a story about family, and about friendship. Most importantly, though, it is a story about what makes one human, about how some humans can be more monstrous than the monsters, and about how something as simple as a name can be so important that a person's entire identity hinges upon it. This is the story of a conflicted boy with two names who is trapped between two worlds—that of humans and monsters—who he chooses to be, and who supports him in that decision.

The question is, what name will that boy choose for himself?

 ** _NARUTO_**

 _A scream resounds somewhere far below, followed by a chorus of similar sounds and a mighty crash. A roar echoes from deep within me as the air fills with the scent of smoke and metal. I mentally pause for a moment, thinking that this is all incredibly familiar as my gargantuan body continues to move on its own. I can't control it. Not since I saw those eyes. Eyes like... What were they like? I can't remember. Everything seems to be moving too quickly for me to understand. My nine tails swipe out at the mountains and forests behind me, inadvertently hitting the village in front of me that was quickly being reduced to ruin, the light of the full moon covering all who are present, but their eyes are not on the moon. They are on me._

 _There they are. Those figures again, standing strong amidst the carnage, blond and red flowing together in the smoke-filled wind. Always together. I'm captivated, and yet infuriated. I want to destroy them where they stand, and yet I want to call out to them. Beg. Plead for help. This isn't me. I don't want this to be me. It can't possibly be me..._

 _That was an idiotic thought process. Why would I think such a thing? It is me, and destroy I must. An arm is raised, and..._

 _Light engulfs us all..._

 ** _NARUTO_**

Naruto quickly sat up in bed, panting heavily, the familiar sensation of cold sweat running down his brow. He was in his room, the soft yellow walls and blue carpet offering a sense of security. The sun peeked in through a gap in the pale blue curtains, illuminating his wooden bed with orange covers, his bedside table, his wardrobe, and his desk that sat along the wall to his left.

As he calmed down, he grimaced at the feeling of his sweat-drenched pyjamas, noticing that he desperately need a shower before he could think about doing anything else. He peeled his blue pyjama top off his body and stood up, intending to make his way to the bathroom, but before he could take a step towards the door, it burst open and, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the colour red in the doorway.

"Rise and shine, 'ttebane!" a female voice cries out from the doorway, laden with the excitement and early morning pep that he just didn't seem to have at the time.

Naruto turned his head with a tired yawn to see his mother—Uzumaki Kushina—standing in the doorway, her waist-length red hair framing her pale face, violet eyes shining with excitement. Her high-collared, sleeveless white blouse and long green dress seemed to have been thrown on haphazardly, and she wasn't even wearing her usual black bracelet, black hair clip, or grey shinobi sandals. In fact, in retrospect, Naruto didn't even think she had brushed her hair at all that morning.

"Oh! You're already up! You'll never guess what just happened!" Kushina continued, speaking almost too quickly for Naruto's tired brain to keep up. Undaunted by this, she paused, nearly vibrating with excitement as she actually waited for him to guess.

"What...?" Naruto finally mumbled after a few seconds of waiting, yawning tiredly as she started to speak again.

"Well, I woke up this morning to find that your father made _pancakes_!" Kushina exclaimed excitedly, a large grin on her face.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. Sure, his dad's pancakes were the lightest and fluffiest pancakes he'd ever had, and most people would probably kill to eat them, but they were far from his favourite food in the world. To him, pancakes were bland bread covered in syrup or honey that was, in his opinion, far too sweet, so he wasn't very fond of them, and the only novelty value they held was that they were round. Even so, his mother's reaction to his dad's pancakes was always amusing.

"Has anybody ever told you that you're easily impressed?" Naruto asked with another tired yawn, and as Kushina pouted and opened her mouth to protest, he continued with, "What's the occasion, anyway? Dad's always at work by this time."

The pout instantly disappeared. "Oh. Your father isn't going in this morning. He got the morning off."

"He's not going in later, then?" Naruto asked curiously, somewhat hoping that she'd say no.

Kushina grimaced sympathetically. "I'm sorry, honey. Your father is a very busy man, and he has meetings with the elders all evening. It was all he could do to get the morning off. Please don't be angry at him..."

"I'm not angry..." Naruto muttered, averting my gaze as he kicked at the ground with a bare foot, wondering if he'd just told a lie. "I'm just...disappointed, you know...? We never get to spend time together, and I was hoping that he could help me with something..."

"Oh?" Kushina responded, somewhat surprised by the response. "Is it anything your mother can help with?"

"I don't know. Are you any good at the Bunshin no Jutsu?" Naruto asked, somewhat hopefully as he turned his gaze towards his mother who let out a soft hum as she descended into thought.

"Well, I'm not bad at it. Honestly, asking your father about that jutsu won't get you anywhere in a hurry. He's not very good at it," Kushina admitted, tapping her chin as she descended into thought once more.

"Eh?" Naruto stopped where he stood, eyes wide with shock. "Dad can't use that justu? I thought it was basic ninjutsu."

"Well, not everyone can do every ninjutsu. Some people just don't have the talent for certain jutsu. Your father can't do the basic Bunshin no Jutsu, but he can perform the more difficult variation. I can't perform anything more than basic genjutsu. Some people can't perform a single genjutsu, while other people can perform genjutsu, but no ninjutsu, and some people even rely entirely on taijutsu. There's nothing strange about it," Kushina jovially informed her son with a kind smile, placing her hands on her hips.

"Why does that happen, though?" Naruto asked curiously, cocking his head to the side as he took a step towards his mother.

"Genetics, I think," Kushina told him, looking away with a frown as if she was carefully considering her words. "Usually, families all have somewhat similar abilities and chakra natures, so I'd say it's inherited, like how our clan is proficient in fūinjutsu. The way the chakra has to be moulded is very different, and I think some people are just naturally built to perform certain jutsu. It probably wouldn't be wrong to say that you inherited your father's lack of ability in that area. Of course, that doesn't mean that you can't do it. It just takes more effort." Before Naruto could descend into thought, Kushina clapped her hands. "Now, then. Go and get ready. You don't want your pancakes to get cold."

Naruto offered her a small smile, playing the conversation over in his mind again. "Right. I'll be off, then."

As he jogged out the door, planning to head to the bathroom for a shower, he heard his mother shout down the hall after him. "By the way, we're going out for ramen tonight!"

All thoughts of nightmares and training were forced from Naruto's head, and he found himself almost being able to taste Ichiraku's amazing ramen. He spun around to look at his mother who was leaning out of the door to his room, aware that his eyes were probably sparkling with delight. "Really?!"

Kushina smirked. "Has anybody ever told you that you're easily impressed?" she teased with an amused giggle.

 ** _NARUTO_**

"Tell Naruto-kun how bad you are at the Bunshin no Jutsu," Kushina ordered through a mouthful of pancakes, pointing her fork at her husband who had dramatically reddened. Minato nervously tightened the white apron that he wore over his blue jumper and trousers, the red Uzushiogakure no Sato spiral sticking out like a sore thumb on the sleeve. None of his gear seemed to have been equipped, although Naruto suspected that he'd do it before he went to work later. Minato raised a hand to fiddle with a thick strand of his spiky blond hair as he approached the table, frying pan in hand.

"K-K-Kushina-chan! I'm not _that_ bad!" he stammered in embarrassment, hastily plopping another large, thick pancake down on Naruto's plate.

"Oh?" Kushina responded with a teasing smirk. "Do it now, then. Show us all your prowess, oh great Hokage."

Minato's jaw snapped shut with an audible click, and as he absentmindedly pushed a piece of pancake around the plate, Naruto saw his father glance at him out of the corner of his eye. "You know," Minato nervously began, beginning to sweat profusely, "I need all my strength for work. You understand, right?" When Minato didn't get a response from his smug-looking wife, he sat next to Naruto and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "Naruto-kun gets it, right?! Of course he gets it! He's smart!" Minato almost pleaded desperately.

Naruto smirked mischievously. "Dad, you were right about one thing. I'm smart. Smart enough to know when someone's talking crap."

The response was instant, with Kushina howling with laughter to the point where she was forced to clutch her sides in pain as Minato, having gone as red as his wife's hair, removed his arm from Naruto and shuffled away from him, his chair scraping across the wooden floor as he did so. Sinking into his chair, he tried to make himself look as small as possible while Kushina struggled to get out simple words. Naruto watched his mother's reaction with a bright grin, verging on laughter, himself.

"Well, if I fail at being a shinobi, at least I know I can always have a career as a successful comedian," Naruto joked with a shrug as Kushina's laughter began to die down. His father, on the other hand, had begun to mutter something unintelligible, likely uttering words of betrayal as he shuffled his seat back towards his wife and son.

"Don't eat too slowly, Naruto-kun," Kushina told him with a chuckle as Naruto shovelled another bite into his mouth. "Class starts in an hour, and it'll take you about half an hour to get there. This is your last week. You need to learn as much as you can."

"Right..." Naruto responded with a sigh and a bored roll of his eyes, shovelling yet more pancake into his mouth as the conversation turned down a road that he couldn't be bothered to walk down. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Kushina begin to regard him with a frown, but she said nothing. She was wondering if he was taking it seriously, Naruto knew.

Nevertheless, the subject was quickly dropped in favour of Minato's usual breakfast table banter—stories about all the weird, funny things that elders were taking issue with. It was during a story about how they'd become offended by a ninken appearing in the Hokage Residence that Naruto finished his breakfast and grabbed his green bag which was resting against the table leg.

"I'll hear the rest of the story later, Dad!" Naruto shouted as he ran out of the room towards the door. "Bye!"

There was a synchronised, cheerful shout of, "Bye, Naruto-kun!" within the house as Naruto opened the door and hurried out. It was only when the door was shut that he took off down the street at a run.

 ** _NARUTO_**

One of the areas that Naruto always passed through on his way to the Academy was the shopping district—a lively area of Konohagakure that was always filled with the hustle and bustle of civilians and shinobi going about their daily activities, whether that was grocery shopping, buying provisions or clothes, or looking for new weapons. Another thing that the shopping district was famous for was the good food that the vendors served.

As he raced down the street, he heard a cheery voice calling, "Hello, Naruto-kun! How are you this morning?"

Recognising the voice immediately, Naruto slowed down and looked over at the small restaurant with white drapes at the side of the road. Outside it was a young woman who was pulling up the shutters. Naruto recognised her immediately, from her long brown hair that was tied up in a white bandana to her white robes with folded sleeves and her blue apron. Her black eyes, standing out against her fair skin, seemed to twinkle with happiness as Naruto slowed to a stop next to her. Naruto inhaled deeply, already able to smell the scent of freshly made ramen wafting from the restaurant—the first batch of the day, no doubt.

"Morning, Ayame-chan. Nice morning, isn't it? You guys must start work really early!" Naruto exclaimed, peering inside the restaurant, watching as the lights from inside the kitchen illuminated the otherwise darkened restaurant.

"We start work no earlier than your classes start, Naruto-kun," Ayame told him with a cheerful smile, turning to face him as she did so now that the shutters were up. "Good luck with that, by the way. Your exams are coming up, aren't they?"

Naruto smiled sheepishly. "Well, I'm trying my best. They aren't the easiest, and I'm not very good at one of the jutsu."

Ayame seemed to wave off the very notion of failure. "Just pass the other two, then. When you've passed, come here for a celebration."

Naruto immediately brightened up at the very thought of eating the ramen at Ichiraku. "Oh, yeah!" he exclaimed, a bright smile on his face. "Mum and I are coming here for dinner, so I'll see you then!"

"You're always welcome here, Naruto-kun!" an amicable male voice spoke up from within the restaurant, cutting Ayame off before she could express the delight that her expression betrayed. As Naruto peered inside, he saw the restaurant's owner, Teuchi, emerge from the kitchen, wiping his hands on a towel. He was a tall man with short greying hair, tanned skin, and narrow black eyes, and just as always, there was a welcoming smile on his face. He wore a similar uniform to Ayame, his daughter, with the exception of his white hat with his restaurant's logo written in red along the right side.

"Morning!" Naruto responded with a bright smile, happy to see the kindly restaurant owner.

"Good morning," Teuchi responded with a chuckle. "We're always happy to see our favourite little customer."

"'Little'...?" Naruto echoed disbelievingly, not sure whether he should be offended

"Whether you like it or not, to us, you'll always be that little boy who walked into our restaurant on that rainy day," Teuchi responded with a hearty laugh. "You'll understand when you're an adult. You'll spend a lot of time thinking about the good old days." Naruto considered that for a moment, but ended up shaking his head, unable to imagine such a thing. Teuchi's laugh resounded yet again. He turned to head back into the restaurant, eyes twinkling with mirth. "We all get old eventually, Naruto-kun, some more gracefully than others. You'll remember this conversation someday and realise that I'm right." Then, with an amused chuckle, he added, "Have a good day at school. Study hard."

Ayame turned to follow her father into the restaurant with a giggle. "That's if you can get there. Hurry on."

As the father and daughter duo made their way into the tiny restaurant, Naruto stood rooted to the spot as he considered what they'd said. It took a good few seconds for the implications of Ayame's words to sink in, and with a cry of, _"She's right! I'm late!"_ Naruto took off down the street as fast as his legs could carry him, and despite worrying that he wouldn't make it to class in time, he couldn't deny the warm, fuzzy feeling that he got from talking to Ayame and Teuchi. If he didn't go to the restaurant for their delicious food, he'd still go to it just to see those two.

"Good morning, Honourable Son! On your way to class, I see! Good luck!" a voice suddenly shouted from his left. Naruto stopped for a moment, turning towards the source of the voice. He bowed quickly, mirroring the elderly owner of one of Konoha's many weapon shops. Naruto offered the balding grey-haired man an uneasy grin as the man straightened up, tightening his blue apron that covered his light grey shirt with rolled up sleeves and tan trousers as he regarded Naruto with dark brown eyes, a small, almost unnatural smile on his face.

"Good morning, Kudō-san. Thank you," Naruto responded as politely as he could before racing off once more, unable to shake the image of Kudō's dull, uncaring eyes and distant smile from his mind. He was used to it, and he believed that he had largely stopped caring about it, but he wish he knew why the citizens of Konoha behaved like that towards him. It made him uneasy. Surely, his pranks didn't warrant that kind of animosity.

Needless to say, the warm, fuzzy feeling was gone as soon as it had begun.

 ** _NARUTO_**

It was, as his mother had warned him, just over half an hour before he reached the Academy. He burst through the door to his classroom to find, to his relief, that class hadn't begun and his teacher, Iruka, had not arrived. He made his way through the chattering students and up the wooden stairs to take his place at one of the long wooden benches, hoping to catch his breath. He slid along the bench until he reached his usual position beside a classmate of his, his blue shirt standing out from the other members of the class. He stuck out just as much as Naruto did in his orange jacket and trousers. Just looking at the raven-haired boy as he leaned on his hand, his dark eyes staring out the window, it was obvious that his mind was far away from the classroom.

With a chuckle, Naruto nudged the boy with a chuckle. "Oi. Sasuke," Naruto called, trying to get the boy's attention. Uchiha Sasuke let out a grunt of acknowledgement and turned to face Naruto. Naruto offered him a cheeky grin. "Made it."

Sasuke let out another grunt and flashed a knowing smirk at the boy as he took a glance at the white clock that hung just above the sliding doors that led in and out of their classroom. "With minutes to spare. Did you get distracted on the way in, or are you just that slow, usuratonkachi?"

Naruto, for a split second, saw red, and he immediately opened his mouth and practically spat, "Teme..." at the boy next to him, as if such a thing would hurt Sasuke's feelings. Sasuke's smug-sounding grunt told him that it hadn't worked. With their little exchange of insults over and done with, Naruto couldn't help but smile slightly. He and Sasuke, who had met each other through their parents almost at birth, had a relationship that was difficult to describe. One minute, they were something like friends, or they at least had respect for each other, and the next thing they knew, they were hurling insults that strangely failed to hurt either of them. It was a strange relationship, indeed.

"You know..." Sasuke began, trailing off for a moment as he pondered his next words before adding, "I think I'm actually going to miss this. It's never going to be this easy again."

"You're right, 'ttebayo," Naruto responded wistfully as he gazed around the classroom, carefully taking in the chattering students, wooden floors, long desks, posters and notice boards, and the pale green walls with exposed wooden beams. This was all they had known for the past few years, and as long as their exams went well, they would be employed as shinobi within the week. They'd be earning money and paying their own way in life, and they'd even be legally allowed to live on their own. As long as they wore their headbands, anyone with even an ounce of respect would treat them like adults. It was a lot to take it, and it felt like they would be taking a huge step, but it was exciting nonetheless. "Dad says that there won't be war in our lifetimes, though," Naruto told Sasuke somewhat matter-of-factly. "It could be far worse."

"You're right, I suppose," Sasuke admitted, lazily leaning on his hand once again.

"Even so, you two can't let your guards down. It's going to be dangerous out there," a female voice from Naruto's right chimed as the owner of the voice settled next to Naruto. Naruto turned his head to meet the bright green eyes and long bubblegum pink hair of the beautiful Haruno Sakura, and he wasted no time in squirming in his seat, blushing madly, which Sakura, in hindsight, was doing her best to ignore. Sakura was a nice young girl, but she had a bit of a temper. Naruto met her when he entered the Academy and had fallen in love at first sight. Knowing who he was, Sakura always tried her best to be polite, and although Naruto begrudgingly couldn't call her his friend, as such, they often spoke and would sometimes enjoy a good conversation, which mirrored Naruto's relationships with most of the rest of the class.

"G-good morning, Sakura-chan..." Naruto greeted with a silly grin as Sakura tried her best to put on an awkward smile.

"G-good morning, Naruto-kun," Sakura responded uneasily, but as politely as she could. Leaning forwards, she looked straight at Sasuke and immediately seemed to forget about Naruto, devolving into a blushing mess much like he had. "Good morning, S-S-Sasuke-kun..." she stammered nervously, face bright red as Sasuke turned to face her with yet another grunt of acknowledgement. The morning greetings done, Sakura leaned back in her seat with a sigh and looked around herself, fidgeting with the hem of her red qipao dress, and Naruto couldn't help but notice the way her hair, tied back by a red ribbon, perfectly framed her face.

"You know, I wonder how many of us will still be here in a year's time, provided the Chūnin Selection Exams go ahead," Sakura wondered with another sigh, her eyes glittering with sadness at the mere thought of such a thing.

"Depends on how much trouble pops up. As Naruto said, these are times of peace, and this class alone contains multiple important clan heirs, the children of clan heads, and the son of the Hokage. Attacking many of this year's genin, even in self-defence, could spark a diplomatic issue. The other countries can't afford to start trouble," Sasuke carefully reasoned, leaning back in his seat.

Naruto had another look around the faces in the classroom. Sasuke was right. While Sasuke, himself, was not his clan's heir, he was the son of their leader. Sleeping on his desk just behind Naruto was Nara Shikamaru, heir to the Nara Clan, his black hair pulled back in a spiky ponytail. Beside him, eating a large packet of crisps, was the heir of the Akimichi Clan, Chōji—a chubby boy with spiked brown hair and swirling red face paint on his cheeks. A few rows back was the fidgeting Hyūga Hinata—a shy girl with dark blue hair and pale, pupil-less eyes, and the heir to the Hyūga Clan. The list went on and on, and finally, there was Naruto, himself. It was his father who had the power to declare war, and if something was to happen to him, Naruto knew that he would ignore the Tree Leaf Honoured Opinion Watch, who his father didn't like, anyway, and start a war with whoever was responsible without regard for the consequences, because that was the sort of man his father was.

Just as Naruto opened his mouth to respond, the doors slid open and the children scrambled up the steps to get to their seats. As the crowd parted and the children sat down, Naruto was able to see his teacher, Umino Iruka, take his place at the wooden podium at the front of the class. He was a somewhat tall man with tanned skin, dark eyes and dark brown hair that was pulled back into a ponytail. Across the bridge of his nose was a large scar that Naruto had never dared to ask about. Aside from his forehead protector with a blue cloth, he wore the standard shinobi outfit for a chūnin—a green flak jacket with the red Uzushiogakure no Sato symbol on the back, black sandals, and a matching jumper and trousers, the bottoms of his trousers tied to his legs with bandages. A small black pouch was tied to his right leg with bandages, and a larger beige pouch for weapons was attached to his hip.

"Quiet, everybody!" Iruka called as the class finally settled down, the whispers dissipating and the shuffling ceasing. There was a moment of silence as Iruka seemed to dare anyone to make a noise. "Now," he finally continued as he ascertained that the noise had stopped, "as you all know, your exams are in less than a week, and I don't want to see any of you having to repeat the year. Your exams will be in one of two chosen areas—Bunshin no Jutsu or Henge no Jutsu. The jutsu that you will be required to perform will be revealed on the day of your exam. Because of that, we'll be doing something like a workshop today to brush you up in the areas that you're having trouble in. Those who wish to study Henge no Jutsu, go to the training hall. Those who want to practice their Bunshin no Jutsu, head outside. I will be with the Bunshin no Jutsu group, but Mizuki-sensei will be along shortly to work with the other group." To Naruto's surprise, Iruka looked straight at him, his expression serious. "I'll be seeing _you_ in the Bunshin no Jutsu group, Naruto-kun."

Naruto, blushing and grinning, began to scratch the back of his head in embarrassment and sank down in his seat as his classmates began to laugh quietly. He heard Sakura barely suppress a giggle, and Sasuke let out an amused snort. Almost immediately, the most of the class began to move, including Iruka who made his way towards the door, intending to go outside, no doubt. Those who didn't looked as though they were considering where they should go. Naruto was about to stand to leave when Sakura leaned forwards, looking into Naruto and Sasuke's faces with a puzzled expression. She leaned on her hand.

"Hey, where do you guys think I should go?" she asked, sounding somewhat confused.

After a brief moment of thought in which he thought of nothing, Naruto simply responded with, "What do you think you have the most problems with?"

Sakura hummed in thought. "Henge no Jutsu, maybe. I get the features wrong sometimes. You're good at that, aren't you, Naruto-kun?"

"There's an easy way to fix that. Problems with Henge no Jutsu usually happen because you don't know the target well enough. You have to study them carefully first and see them in your mind while you're using the jutsu, and you always have to keep their proportions in mind, because the moment you let that slip, the jutsu will go out of control and you don't know what you could end up with. You can't just expect to transform into a perfect copy of a person after seeing them once or twice, or if you've never paid close attention to them," Naruto responded with a cheeky grin. Eventually, though, he nervously admitted, "I can't tell you anything about the technical stuff, though. I barely understand that, myself."

" _No!_ That's _great!_ I know the technical aspects of it! I'll try it out!" Sakura exclaimed excitedly, hurriedly sliding out from behind the desk with a quick cry of, "Thanks, Naruto-kun!" before heading for the doors at

"Isn't that common sense?" Sasuke asked once he was sure that Sakura was out of earshot.

"People seem to forget that part in the heat of the moment, though, and it's a lot of information to keep in your head," Naruto quickly responded, hurriedly thinking of a reason why Sakura's oversight could be reasonable. Sasuke was silent for a moment.

"That's true," he eventually admitted monotonously. Naruto couldn't tell how Sasuke was feeling when he did that—something that he'd never gotten used to. "There's a lot of pressure to get it right, I suppose."

"Anyway, I'm off," Naruto told Sasuke, trying to force the smugness out of his voice that naturally occurred at the mere thought of making Sasuke admit that he was right. "Iruka-sensei will kill me if I'm late."

"Since when have you even cared about that?" Sasuke scoffed disbelievingly, eyebrows rising so high that Naruto thought they would disappear into his hairline. He hadn't seen Sasuke being this expressive in months.

"Well..." Naruto began, training off as he strained to find the right words. "This could be my last chance to learn this thing. I suppose it's more for myself than Iruka-sensei."

Sasuke was silent for a moment as his expression seemed to reset to its default apathetic expression. "I might go to the Bunshin no Jutsu class, too. I don't need to practice Henge no Jutsu," he finally stated, rising from his seat as a few more students, chatting loudly amongst themselves, decided to do the same. As they headed for the door, Naruto and Sasuke followed, enjoying a peaceful silence as they walked down the hall, having separated from the loud group who had evidently gone to the training hall. When the two friends/enemies finally stepped into the warm sunlight, they were greeted by the sight of a large group of students and their teacher. As they approached Iruka turned to them.

"Are there any students left in the classroom, boys, or has everybody else gone to the other group?" Iruka asked absentmindedly, turning his eyes to a clipboard in his hands as they finally joined the group. Naruto nodded his head.

"There were a few more in there," Sasuke informed him turning back towards the door as though some students would emerge right there and then.

Iruka craned his head to look through the classroom window, but as Naruto followed his gaze, he quickly came to the conclusion that his teacher wouldn't see much through the glare that the sun cast on the windows. Iruka turned to the group, immediately calming them as though it was their instinct to stop when their teacher so much as looked at them. From his expression, Naruto could tell that he was annoyed that not everyone had gone to their respective groups. It was, no doubt, eating into their training time, although it was admittedly not by much.

"Wait here. I'll hurry them up," Iruka ordered. "Don't go anywhere."

There was an almost unanimous cry of, "Yes, Iruka-sensei!" as Iruka began to walk towards their classroom window, prepared to berate any stragglers. The chatter began anew almost immediately, some children already practicing their hand seals before their teacher returned.

Sasuke turned to Naruto with something akin to a frown. "What's wrong with your Bunshin no Jutsu, anyway?"

"Ah... I dunno..." Naruto responded vaguely, sheepishly scratching the back of his head. "It's like...my chakra just goes like _baaaam_ , 'ttebayo! You know?"

Sasuke's frown deepened to the point where it became recognisable as one. "For goodness sake. Describe it properly, usuratonkachi."

Naruto grumbled something unintelligible and nonsensical under his breath, glaring at Sasuke as he did so before finally retorting with, "I did, idiot!"

"Explain it again, using proper words this time," Sasuke demanded, his tone leaving no room for arguments.

Naruto' s glare deepened and he became visibly frustrated as the necessary words evaded him. "It's like...my chakra...just _panics_ , you know?"

"Your chakra... _panics_...?" Sasuke asked disbelievingly, his eyebrows raising for the second time that day.

"Yeah. It...goes out of control, I suppose, like it won't listen to me. It just goes _baaaam_ , you know?" Naruto attempted to explain, feeling more and more flustered by the second as it appeared that words were not his strong suit.

"The last part was unnecessary," Sasuke deadpanned.

Naruto chose to ignore Sasuke. It was frustrating. When it came to ninjutsu—an area that Naruto loved—he was willing to put in the work, and he was quite good at it as a result. He was able to meet any challenge that the Academy threw at him, and he achieved reasonable results with every justu, all except the Henge no Jutsu, which he excelled in, far beyond Sasuke and even Iruka, as he was even capable of transforming into things that he'd never seen before as long as he had a clear image of what he wanted. The other jutsu was the Bunshin no Jutsu, which was the exact opposite. He could barely even produce one clone, and said clone was never even viable. Just as Naruto's thoughts wandered back to the conversation that he'd had with his mother that morning, Sasuke spoke up, ignoring Iruka's distant shout of, _"Get to your groups, kids!"_ as he knocked on the window.

"Can't say I know what to do about that. You could always try to improve your chakra control, though," Sasuke suggested after a brief moment of thought.

"I've tried that..." Naruto muttered defeatedly, letting out an exasperated sigh. "Mum said this morning that some people just can't do certain jutsu... Maybe this is the jutsu that I'm not built for..."

"Possibly... I mean, you can do everything else..." Sasuke quietly admitted as Iruka rejoined the group, a few stragglers following shortly afterwards. As the group quietened again, Sasuke quickly hissed, _"I'll ask my brother about it."_ Naruto nodded his thanks and shot Sasuke a grin before turning back to Iruka who had just begun to speak again.

"It seems as though everyone is here," Iruka noted bluntly, his eyes scanning the group. "We'll go over the basics once again before we start practice, OK?"

The student's voices raised in unison once more. "Yes, Iruka-sensei!"

 ** _NARUTO_**

For those who want translations for the Japanese words and phrases in this chapter, or any words of phrases that might be confusing to those who are unfamiliar with them, here's the list:

-kun - An honourific used to refer to a younger male, a very familiar male, like a friend, or a male who is equal in age and standing to the speaker, although this also requires some familiarity.

-chan - An honourific used to refer to a younger female, a very familiar female, like a friend, or a female who is equal in age and standing to the speaker, although this also requires some familiarity. Usually denotes fondness, but can be used condescendingly.

-san - An honourific that roughly equates to Mr, Miss, Mrs, etc. Used to refer to an older person, an unfamiliar person, or a person who requires respect, like a boss.

-sama - An honourific used for individuals who require a lot of respect, usually as a result of their job or position. It is also used to refer to deities.

Ninken - A ninja dog.

Bunshin no Jutsu - The Clone Technique.

Henge no Jutsu - The Transformation Technique.

Uzushiogakure no Sato - Literally the Village Hidden by Whirling Tides. It's the proper name of the village.

Usuratonkachi - An insult used by Sasuke to refer to Naruto. Literally translates to "thin hammer". As such a hammer would easily break, it would be useless. Hence, when Sasuke uses this phrase, he is essentially calling Naruto useless. Like the next word, it cannot be translated effectively, so it will stay in the story.

Teme - An insult used by Naruto to refer to Sasuke. It's a rude way of saying "you" and can be viewed as an insult.

'ttebayo - Short for dattebayo—a verbal tic that Naruto blurts it out on occasion, and he rarely says it in its full form. It has no real meaning, and it cannot really be translated. His mother has a similar tic—dattebane, or 'ttebane.

Shinobi - Ninja.

Tree Leaf Honoured Opinion Watch (Konoha Go-Ikenban) - The dub refers to them as the Konoha Council.

Crisps - Americans would call these "chips", I believe. To us in Britain, chips are what Americans would call "fries".


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

 ** _Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Naruto is the property of Kishimoto Masashi._**

 ** _NARUTO_**

 _Here's a fun game for you! Spot the bits that were written at 2:00 AM! Go! Also, I might end up dropping the honourifics. They're a little annoying to keep up with, and now that I'm properly looking that them, they might even be a little cringy._

 ** _NARUTO_**

It was two days before the exam, and Naruto, naturally, was panicking. He still hadn't figured out the Bunshin no Jutsu, and the more he thought about it, the more he couldn't help but convince himself that it would be the topic of the test. Despite his mother's warning that his father wasn't good at the jutsu, Naruto still found himself at the foot of the massive Hokage Residence—a massive mansion that contained his father's office. It was also meant to house the Hokage and his or her family, but Minato, the Fourth Hokage, had opted against it before Naruto was born. As such, they lived in a decent-sized two storey house in one of the many residential districts of Konoha.

The Hokage Residence was a very imposing building, especially at night. Backed by a looming cliff face known as Hokage Rock, the stone faces of the previous Hokage seemed to stare down at the massive reddish-orange building which consisted of three circular parts that were enclosed behind a wall of the same colour with brown tiles along the top. Many wires and ropes held up a large red circle on the front of the main area of the building, depicting the character for fire. Even that late at night, the large wooden doors to the building remained open, and although Naruto couldn't see anybody, he knew that the area was crawling with Anbu.

"Thanks for looking after my dad, guys," Naruto couldn't help but say to the unseen assassins as he always did when he entered the building. "Keep up the good work."

There was no response, as always.

Ignoring the silence, Naruto made his way up the steps and into the darkened building, but it wasn't long before his eyes adjusted and the lights that were switched on further down the hall became visible. The building was, in Naruto's opinion, very boring, for it was all the same, consisting of corridors upon corridors of doors, green carpet, and plank walls.

Due to the fact that everything looked the same, people who didn't know their way around could easily get lost if they didn't have an escort. Thankfully, Naruto knew all of the twists and turns within the building like the back of his hand, having explored it many times in his 12 years of life. Being the son of the Hokage had its perks, he supposed. It got him into places that the average child his age could never go.

Suddenly, Naruto remembered exactly which hall he was in, or rather what he had done to said hall. With a hop, he easily cleared a thin line of wire that connected to a very intricate mechanism that would ultimately fire eggs into the face of anybody who tripped it. Come to think of it, the Anbu who patrolled the corridor had only allowed him to put it up because the eggs were fresh. Naruto briefly wondered how long the trap had been there.

"I should probably change those eggs..." Naruto muttered thoughtfully, deciding to make good on that promise, although he had no idea how someone hadn't tripped it yet. Not many people went down that corridor anymore, evidently. That, or they all had very keen eyes.

"It's nice to see that you're upholding your promise," a male voice spoke up with a relieved sigh.

Naruto looked up to see a tall man seemingly appear out of nowhere. The man, who Naruto recognised immediately as the Anbu who patrolled that part of the corridor on certain days of the week, wore a grey flack jacket, underneath which was a black sleeveless shirt. He also wore matching trousers, shinobi sandals, and elbow-length black gloves, over which were a pair of grey guards—a standard Anbu uniform. His most defining traits were the sword that were strapped to his back, and his catlike Anbu mask. Made of white porcelain, the mask had red crescent shapes on the sides, just next to the eye holes, and a pairs of green stripes above and below the eyes, just at the edges of the mask.

"Evening, Kazuki-san. I'll change the eggs after class tomorrow," Naruto sheepishly promised as the Anbu approached him.

Kazuki seemed to let out another sigh. "You've certainly left it long enough..." he mumbled, his tone still conveying his apparent relief. "Lord Fourth is still in his office if you're looking for him," Kazuki finally informed Naruto, seemingly regaining his composure.

Naruto couldn't help but grin at the kindly Anbu. "That's where I was heading, but thanks, anyway. At least I know that I haven't missed him," he replied gratefully, glancing up at his trap which consisted of many wires that all led to a wooden catapult of his own making that held the now-rotten eggs. "How has nobody tripped this, already?"

"We Anbu have been preventing innocent people from setting it off, and Lord Fourth hasn't been coming this way, lately," Kazuki explained bluntly. "If you're going to see him, bring him home with you. There's nothing important down this corridor, so I can go home when Lord Fourth does."

Naruto couldn't help but laugh. "I'll see what I can do," he assured Kazuki with an even wider grin, "but if you can't get him to leave, I don't know what I can do."

Naruto started off down the corridor at a meandering pace once more, giggling to himself as he heard the Anbu's despairing mutter of, "Please try, anyway..." Saying nothing, Naruto put up a hand and disappeared around the corner, somewhat thankful that the Anbu were keeping quiet about his little trap. He heard no movement from behind him, as it should be. Kazuki was definitely doing his job properly. That was reassuring, at least.

Three staircases and seven hallways over the course of separate floors later, and Naruto stood in a very similar corridor to the one he'd been in, yet the door he stood in front of, which looked like every other door in the building—to confuse invaders, his father said—was arguably much more important, for it led straight into the office of the Hokage. It was, therefore, with a great sense of nonchalance, that Naruto ungracefully shoved the door open and entered with a loud exclamation of, "The Anbu want you to go home, Dad. You're holding them back."

Minato, who had apparently been incredibly focused on his paperwork, jumped in alarm as Naruto entered, but didn't stand. Even so, Naruto froze, quickly coming to the conclusion that the hand under his desk likely held a weapon, ready to deal with him had he been a dangerous intruder.

Minato quickly relaxed as he quickly looked Naruto over with tired-looking eyes, dark rings already rapidly developing underneath them. With a sigh, the arm under the desk moved and Naruto could hear the clinking of metal as a kunai was placed into its holster once again. He'd been correct. Naruto resolved to be more careful that late at night from then on, both for his own safety, and the sanity of his father.

"Oh... It's just Naruto..." Minato noted, sounding relieved. Naruto let himself relax as Minato began to rub his tired eyes. "What time is it...?"

"The time? It's time to go home if you couldn't even sense me coming," Naruto told him with a pout, mildly disappointed that the strongest man in the village hadn't even been able to notice the untamed chakra of a child, let alone his own son. "You're holding the Anbu back. The sooner you go home, the sooner they can do the same."

"Is that what you came for...?" Minato jokingly enquired with a yawn before flashing an exhausted grin at his son. "To give the Anbu a break? You didn't come for my sake?"

"I never said that..." Naruto snapped irritably, his pout deepening. "I came because..." Naruto couldn't help but let the words die in his throat. Minato frowned and slowly stood, walking around the desk to face Naruto properly.

"What's wrong?" he asked worriedly, placing a firmly gripping Naruto's shoulder in concern.

Naruto couldn't help but fidget nervously. He hated to ask for help from his father. He was a busy man, as much as Naruto hated that fact, and Naruto almost felt as though he'd explode in anger if his father hadn't done anything to help him all week. Naruto took a deep breath and looked into his father's eyes.

"Dad... Did you ask about that problem I was having...?" Naruto asked sheepishly. He watched as a cloud of confusion settled on his father, and the man raised an eyebrow at him.

"Problem? What problem?" Minato asked cluelessly, his tone laced with exhaustion.

"About...Bunshin no Jutsu..." Naruto responded somewhat disbelievingly, unable to stop himself from gritting his teeth in annoyance until his father's expression slowly became one of realisation. He struggled to remind himself that it was late, and his father was probably to tired to recall it on his own after a day of hard work. Surely, he'd remembered to ask about it earlier.

"Oh! Yes. I asked," Minato responded quietly, removing his hand from Naruto's shoulder to scratch the back of his head in embarrassment. "Sorry, Naruto. I asked the experienced shinobi here when I saw them. None of them could tell me anything other than what your mother could tell you, even Nara Shikaku. It's unfortunate...but you'll just have to rely on hard work."

Naruto couldn't help but heave a sigh, hoping that he didn't sound too disappointed or stressed. His dad had tried his best right? Even so, maybe he should have asked Kazuki... He'd still be there when he was leaving, right? Did Kazuki even use that sort of jutsu? Did the Anbu have something different? Something more advanced, perhaps? Surely, they at least knew the basics of the jutsu, right? They were in the Anbu, too, so that meant that their mastery of jutsu was more advanced than even the average jōnin–

"Naruto?" Minato's voice drew Naruto from his thoughts, and judging by the volume of his voice, he'd spoken to Naruto more than a few times.

Naruto looked up at his father and grinned sheepishly. "Yeah... I'm listening..." He felt his false grin faltering as he saw his father frown in concern, yet continued to speak anyway, his voice shaky as he tried to keep up a mask of confidence. "I-I'll just work hard, right...?"

Minato smiled down at him almost pityingly. "Hey," he started tiredly, getting Naruto's undivided attention. "Your mum and dad believe in you, and even if you don't do well in this test, we're proud of you no matter how you do, OK? You know that, right?"

They'll still be disappointed, Naruto couldn't help but think. If I fail, it'll reflect badly on Dad, won't it? What'll the other Kage think of him and the village if his own son fails?

"I do," Naruto eventually responded, his voice wavering with nervousness as the thought that he might actually fail, disappoint his family, and fall behind his classmates—the people that he felt the most comfortable working with—fully hit home. The feeling was worse than he'd like to admit, and it all came down to his own lack of talent.

His father, he noticed, did not seem at all convinced by his answer, but he had enough tact to let the conversation drop. "Come on," he told Naruto with a bright, yet very tired, smile, placing his arm around his son's shoulders. "It's late. Let's go home."

Naruto nodded slowly and leaned against his father as Minato reached over to lift the keys to his office from the desk before leading his son out of the office. The door was locked behind them, and Naruto followed his Minato down the corridor. Curiously, he looked into his father's face as they approached a branching corridor, and pointed down the corridor to the right.

"Should we tell Kazuki-san that he can go home?" Naruto asked, once again recalling the request of the masked Anbu. Minato pondered for a moment.

"We probably should. He can let the other Anbu members know that they can switch out for the night," Minato decided with a sigh, his voice sounding even more tired than before.

"Why do Anbu members even have to be here at night? You're not here. There's nobody to protect," Naruto pointed out, frowning in confusion.

Minato hummed in thought. "Well, even if I'm not here, they still have to protect the building. The Hokage Residence has a lot more in it than the Hokage," he explained, chuckling in amusement as Naruto's confused frown deepened.

Despite how confused Naruto was by the statement, he had a feeling that he shouldn't push it. His father's vagueness told him that Minato didn't want to—or perhaps couldn't—talk about it. He'd encountered this sort of response so many times that he almost instinctively knew how the conversation would progress if he continued to push it any further. He'd be told it was a secret, first gently, then with annoyance, and if he pushed it far enough, his father would certainly become angry, because he couldn't just carelessly give out important shinobi secrets. Either way, requesting more information was pointless.

"Eh," Naruto responded, hoping that the curiosity in his voice that he tried to hide with an air of smug confidence wouldn't be detected. "I'll just find out about it when I become the Hokage."

That one made Minato laugh, and Naruto couldn't help but smile when his father beamed with pride.

"It's a tough job," Minato told him, enthusiastically ruffling his son's hair. "Are you sure you want it?"

"Tough for you, maybe. I'll be a far better Hokage," Naruto retorted smugly as Minato's laughter reduced to a chuckle.

"That, I don't doubt," Minato responded, sounding proud as they turned down the stretch of corridor where Naruto had spoken to Kazuki. "You're my son, after all." Suddenly, Minato turned his head away from Naruto and, with an air of authority, said, "Kazuki, tell the other Anbu to switch out. You can go home for tonight."

"Yes, Lord Fourth," Kazuki almost immediately responded, unable to hide the relief in his voice, and his unseen presence slowly seemed to fade from the hallway.

The job done, Minato walked on, tiredly rubbing at his eyes, and Naruto was struck by the realisation that he could let his father set the trap off. The wire was just a bit further down the hall, and if Naruto said nothing, his exhausted father would surely trip it. Naruto paused, staring at the spot where he knew that the nearly-invisible wire lay, unable to stop the nagging sense of guilt, and he couldn't be certain that the joy and satisfaction that would inevitably come from seeing his father fall prey to his trap would even that out.

"Wait," he finally said, quickly coming to the decision that he could let his father go no further, but he certainly couldn't hide the annoyance in his voice from not being able to see his plan come to fruition after such a long time of waiting. "The eggs in that trap must be rotten by now," Naruto sheepishly admitted, still sounding disgruntled. "You don't want to trip that at this time of night."

Minato paused, finally noticing the wire now that it had been mentioned to him, and he turned to face his son in amazement. "Naruto, that's...very noble of you."

"I'm a prankster, not a monster, and...not really. I'll set up another one tomorrow. It'll be far better than this one." Minato smiled at Naruto's smugly-revealed intentions.

"Then, I'll enjoy thwarting it," he responded, sounding equally as smug as he carefully stepped over the wire, Naruto following suit.

"Good luck with that," Naruto told him, thinking deeply about his next prank. It had to be perfect...

* * *

Naruto was nearly late to class the next day, not because he left late. He'd been so engrossed in what he was doing that he'd forgotten about the time, and so, it was with mere minutes to spare that he'd run into the classroom, winded, but on time. He flopped into his seat beside Sasuke with a sigh, lifting his goggles up to wipe the sweat from his brow.

"What happened to you?" the Uchiha asked monotonously, regarding the blond boy who sat next to him with an air of superiority. Sakura, who was sitting on the other side of Sasuke, leaned forwards to get a better look at Naruto, her soft pink hair brushing against the desk as she did so.

"I just had somewhere to be, first. That's all," Naruto responded with a relieved sigh, his breathing slowly returning to normal.

Sasuke gave a, "Hmph," and looked away from him, quickly losing interest. It was apparent that he was in no mood to talk that morning, so why he spoke in the first place, Naruto wasn't sure. Surely, he was looking for a reason to make fun of him, right? Nevertheless…

"You know..." Naruto continued unabated, "I've been thinking."

"That's dangerous," Sasuke responded gruffly, frowning at Naruto. Sakura giggled at the joke, but didn't dare join in.

Naruto turned up his nose at the young Uchiha, but chose not to address the comment. _"I've been thinking,"_ he continued, "that my dad has a lot of secrets."

"Of course he does," Sasuke muttered, rolling his eyes. "He's the Hokage, idiot."

Naruto glared. _"So_ , I'm definitely going to become the Hokage so I know what they are."

"You? _Hokage?"_ Sasuke asked with mock incredulity. "I thought you were just saying that. I didn't think you were actually being serious."

"O-oh, come on, Sasuke..." Sakura implored, blushing furiously now that she was speaking to Sasuke. "Let Naruto have his dream."

"It's not a dream..." Naruto huffed, crossing his arms. "I'll do it!"

"Mm-hmm," Sasuke responded absentmindedly. Evidently, he felt that the conversation was pointless.

Naruto bristled with anger, but he was already thinking deeply, and he certainly wasn't going to let Sasuke stop his train of thought, nor was he going to make him stop thinking about his little plan. He couldn't help but chuckle and grin mischievously as he thought about his plan for that night. First, he'd go back and dismantle that trap to put Kazuki at ease. The last thing that the overworked Anbu needed was for the hallway that he was guarding to smell like rotten eggs. Naruto just couldn't do it to the guy. He was too nice. Once that was done, he would take fresh eggs and–

"What are you laughing about...?" Sasuke asked quietly, his eyes narrowing as he regarded Naruto with suspicion. "I don't like that grin you have..."

Sakura pouted. "You're not going to prank Lord Fourth _again,_ are you?" she muttered, sounding disappointed. "Please don't paint the Monument again... It looks bad…"

"Y-you don't get it, Sakura-chan!" Naruto hurriedly responded, moving to stand up as if to emphasise his point, but quickly thinking better of it as Sakura flinched at his loud reaction. Naruto crossed his arms and adopted what he hoped was a serious expression in the hopes of winning back the respect that he'd likely never had. "It was a challenge."

"A...challenge...?" Sakura echoed incredulously.

"Exactly!" Naruto exclaimed, throwing his arms out wide to emphasise his point. "Dad challenged me! It's a battle between men!"

Sasuke scoffed. "You're 12. I wouldn't call myself a man, never mind you."

"You get my point..." Naruto muttered, glaring at the Uchiha. "Don't you want to beat your brother someday? This is just like that!"

Sasuke stiffened. "Your little prank war and me proving myself as a member of the Uchiha clan are two very different things," he responded in a quiet, no-nonsense tone of voice.

"Um... Naruto's actually right in a way..." Sakura piped up with a sheepish smile. Sasuke quickly turned to stare at her, shocked that she'd turned on him for once, while Naruto's face seemed to light up like the sun and blush just as brightly. "I mean, you _are_ both trying to prove yourselves to your respective fathers... That's what all of this is about, right...?"

"I _knew_ Sakura-chan would get it..." Naruto swooned, his cheeks turning a light pink while Sasuke struggled to find the right retort for such a statement.

"The context is completely different..." Sasuke finally muttered, turning his dark eyes away from the pink-haired girl.

"The goal is the same, though. You have different ways of going about it, but at the end of the day, you're both attempting to display your skills in different ways," Sakura continued, sounding much more confident now that she had Naruto's approval.

"I am not the same as this..." Sasuke stopped mid-sentence to gesture at Naruto, disgust evident in his tone, before finally continuing with, _"...useless idiot,"_ with great difficulty, as though no other insults came to his normally quick-witted mind, yet the simple insult was more than enough to set Naruto off. The young blond-haired boy slammed his hands on the desk.

"I'm _not_ a useless idiot!" Naruto shouted angrily, biting back a wince as his throat quickly became raw.

Sasuke glared and opened his mouth to retort, but the sound of the classroom door opening drew their attention before anything could be said. As they had expected, in walked Iruka, a black file full of notes for the class tucked tightly under his right arm.

"All right!" the chūnin shouted over the chatter, letting the file thud heavily onto his desk. "Everybody, settle down. _Naruto,_ I hope you're not fighting again," Iruka said with a sigh, already sounding somewhat frustrated, his eyebrow raised as though he was daring Naruto to try his patience.

 _Ah. He heard the shouting, then._

Sheepishly, and wanting to avoid more trouble, Naruto settled back into his chair, quickly throwing one last glare at Sasuke before turning his eyes to the front of the classroom. Satisfied, Iruka's eyes left Naruto and he began to look around the classroom, taking in each and every young face there with a somewhat sad expression. Naruto had to wonder if Iruka was really going to miss them as much as his expression was leading Naruto to believe.

"Right. Test time," Iruka suddenly declared, his gaze hardening as only a teacher's could. A loud groan went up from the class, Naruto's being the loudest and the most obnoxious, as per usual. Iruka seemed to nearly roll his eyes at their antics, but he caught himself just in time, immediately becoming professional. "We're going to do one last test of the two jutsu you've been practicing lately—Henge no Jutsu, and Bunshin no Jutsu. Line up at the front," Iruka ordered over the noise, pointing along the front row of desks.

The moaning and groaning settled, but the annoyed muttering did not. Slowly, students pulled themselves out of their seats and made their way to the front of the class, some evidently more confident than others, but nobody wanting to go first as the people at the very front tried to push their way back as far as they could, hoping that they wouldn't be picked. Iruka stepped around his desk and gave the children a stern look, prompting them to freeze where they stood. Silence fell over the group as Iruka cast one last look over the group.

"Since you've had longer to practice it, let's see your Henge no Jutsu, first," Iruka decided. Naruto wasn't sure whether he should be excited or annoyed. He could perform the Henge no Jutsu better than anybody else in his class, so he had no issues there. Finishing with his bad Bunshin no Jutsu would certainly be embarrassing, though. He could almost hear the laughter of his classmates as they watched him fail, already.

"We'll start over here," Iruka told the class, pointing at the far right of the front row. "You'll all be transforming into me." He beckoned to a poor child that Naruto couldn't see from his spot next to Sasuke and Sakura as the three of them stood towards the back. "Come forward and give it your best shot."

It went on in this manner. A child would step up, perform the jutsu, and either succeed, or fail in some minor area, like the skin tone not being exact, or the build being slightly wrong, or a student forgetting to make their mole disappear, or their hair colour change. So far, nobody had failed spectacularly. Sasuke and Sakura both succeeded perfectly, and it was soon Naruto's turn to step up. Holding his clipboard, Iruka fixed his hard stare on Naruto, almost daring him to do something stupid.

Did he dare to do it?

Absolutely.

Of course.

It would be unlike Naruto if he didn't.

Naruto performed the three hand seals with practiced ease, and he immediately began to feel chakra surging through his body and up through his pores. There was a puff of smoke, and the transformation was complete. Peals of laughter from the boys rang out across the classroom as the smoke dispersed, the girls groaning in disgust as the last few tendrils of smoke conveniently swirled around Naruto's much taller body, hiding the most scandalous areas of his naked female figure from view. The boy winked and posed, running a hand past his new long blonde pigtails, watching with satisfaction as Iruka recoiled with a blush so severe that blood was soon sent spurting out of his nose.

It was a success. Of course, it _had_ to be. Naruto had been practicing this transformation in the mirror for months. It couldn't be anything less than perfect, and that reaction was all he needed to see. Iruka, though, had other opinions on the matter.

 _"Naruto!"_ he screamed, standing back up, his face red with anger, veins bulging along his neck and forehead like volcanoes that were ready to erupt.

 _Wow,_ Naruto thought as he dispelled his jutsu. _I've never seen him this mad before._

 _Cool._

Naruto grinned as Iruka shouted something unintelligible in the midst of his anger, then turned and stepped back into the crowd on the way back to his seat, some of the boys clapping him on the back while the girls shuffled away, disgusted. Sasuke shook his head, rolled his eyes, and averted his gaze entirely, completely unwilling to deal with the stupidity that he'd just witnessed. Panting with exertion, Iruka turned to push some rolls of tissue paper up his nose to stem any further bleeding, now looking more embarrassed than angry.

"Right..." Iruka said quietly as Naruto slid back into his seat. "Who's next...?"

The line slowly disappeared, and once they were done, they were instructed to line up once more for the second portion of the test. More groaning and muttering erupted from the students as they made their way down to the front once more. This time, the results of the jutsu was were being performed were all somewhat similar. While some of the clones that were created were a little translucent, they were, above all, functional clones.

 _Except me..._ Naruto thought with a gulp as he walked up to the front. Iruka's gaze was severe, this time. _No more messing around. This time around, I would if I could._

Naruto formed the usual hand seal, gritting his teeth in concentration as his chakra began to churn within him to the point where it even began to visibly glow around him with a blue light, producing smoke that surged around him in a wind that only Naruto felt, being right in the centre of it. There was a poof, and even more smoke appeared, but when it finally settled, the most pathetic clone that Naruto had ever seen lay on the floor next to him, its arms limp, its skin deathly pale, and its colours muted. It gazed ahead with blank, unseeing eyes. The clone lasted for only a few seconds before it disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Laughter erupted from all of the students surrounding Naruto—except for Sasuke, of course, who merely rolled his eyes again—and Iruka shook his head in disappointment, writing something down on his clipboard. His teeth gritted in anger, Naruto made his way back up the steps and flopped into his seat with a heavy thud. Sakura glanced at him from across the desk, no doubt wondering if she should even give him the time of day after that little display earlier. Finally, though, she offered a quick, "It could have been worse..."

In response, though, Naruto only let out an annoyed sigh and let his head fall heavily onto his arms.

 _Well,_ he thought hopefully, _at least I seemed cool for a minute._

"Well, that was pathetic," Sasuke said with a snort that might have been a laugh had Naruto not suspected him to be an emotionless creature masquerading as a human being. In response, Naruto quickly kicked at Sasuke's shin under the desk, but almost as if he had been expecting it, Sasuke quickly lifted his legs out of the way, and Naruto's foot met nothing but air.

Naruto immediately gave up, seeing no point in trying again and feeling no motivation to do so. Finally, he simply zoned out as the class went on, his mind on what had just happened. Even when Iruka threw chalk at him and demanded that he pay attention, Naruto simply sat up and continued to think about other matters.

How was he going to fix that jutsu?

* * *

Naruto was in low spirits as he entered the Hokage office to pick up his dad, and he was more than a little miffed. The exam was only a few days away, and he _still_ couldn't do this jutsu. Was it really that necessary to know this jutsu? Surely, he could get by without it.

Without giving his normal greeting to the Anbu outside, Naruto continued on. Stamping down the hallways and up several flights of stairs, he traced the same path he always took to his father's office, making sure to avoid the wire on the floor. Kazuki didn't speak to him, and Naruto wondered if his father had already gone home.

 _If I came all this way for nothing..._ Naruto thought as he made his way towards the door of his father's office. He jiggled the knob, and to his annoyance, it was, indeed, locked. Naruto let out a groan that echoed down the empty hallways, and stamped back the way he came, his feet pounding the ground harder than ever. It was when he was approaching the Hall of Techniques—a highly guarded hallway filled with rooms containing forbidden techniques—however, that Naruto began to notice something odd.

It was quiet. Too quiet, even for the Anbu who tended to take his approach as an opportunity to shuffle into a more comfortable, but no less hidden, position after spending hours hidden away in a corner, unseen. Naruto paused to listen, his training kicking in as he immediately dove for cover, silently landing up against the side of a bookshelf in an alcove in the wall. It was as good a cover as anything in this hallway.

Naruto peered down the hallway, masking his chakra. Surely, he was overreacting, right? Slowly emerging from his hiding spot, he slowly crept down the hall, glancing around him as he reached into his bag for a kunai. Surely, he'd have heard someone by now. _Surely,_ someone would have appeared to reassure him by now. Even so, there was no noise, and nobody came. It was further down the hallway that he heard the first noise, and it was an abnormal one, at that. From one of the rooms, he could hear the strange sound of someone rummaging through something, and he could hear the rustling of paper.

Yes. It was definitely strange, at least for this part of the building, anyway. After all, nobody was allowed access to these rooms unless they had his dad's permission.

Slowly, Naruto pressed his eye up against the keyhole of the door and peered in. In the dim light on the other side of the door, Naruto was barely able to make out the figure of a person, taking scrolls down from the shelves, hurriedly reading their contents, and throwing them to the floor. Every so often, there would be a puff of smoke, and more scrolls, much larger than the ones on the shelves, appeared from thin air, unsealed by the person in the room. After a cursory glance at their contents, they, too, would be thrown aside. It was only a matter of time before the person would move to undo the seals on the doors and cabinets, which was where Naruto assumed that the more important documents and jutsu would be.

Backing away, Naruto pressed himself up against the far wall, his thoughts racing. _Should I get somebody and risk them getting away while I'm gone?_ Naruto thought quickly, struggling to keep his breathing steady. Can I deal with them, myself?

Clutching his kunai tightly, Naruto looked the hallway, desperately hoping for someone to appear, but he saw nobody, and when he did see something, he wished that he hadn't. It wasn't big, and yet it made Naruto's heart thunder in his chest so hard that Naruto was almost afraid that whoever was in the room would hear it. On the floor, just by the skirting board, there were a few drops of a red liquid, still fresh, and it didn't take a genius to figure out what it was. Somebody had been injured here...

No... He had to be realistic. If this man was in the room, and the Anbu were nowhere to be seen, then it was unlikely that any of them had survived, and yet, their bodies were nowhere to be seen. Were they in one of these rooms? Had they been hidden, and the evidence cleaned up? There were no scorch marks. That meant that they hadn't committed suicide, so they must have been around there, somewhere. Either way, he had to presume that the Anbu weren't coming. Well, the Anbu who were guarding that hallway, at the very least.

Naruto was on his own with this one, and his skills certainly weren't up to par against a person who could defeat all of those members of Anbu. Surely, if these Anbu were gone, he'd also sneakily taken out the other Anbu on the floor, seeing as no alert went up. Even so, he held onto the notion that there could be other members of Anbu, and maybe even some of his dad's aides in other areas of the building. Again, he thought about running away to find one of them, but again, he was also struck by the fact that, if he did, this person could just get away while he was gone. Then again, what hope did he have of battling this person? Unless...

Naruto reaches into his bag of weapons and felt around inside it. He felt his heart leap with relief. Wire...

Maybe he couldn't take this person on, but could he slow them down, if not catch them completely? Almost definitely. Almost.

Naruto placed his eye against the keyhole again. The person had taken to cracking one of the seals on a tall wooden cupboard. Hopefully, whatever he was looking for wasn't in there. Naruto had enough time, he hoped. A simple wire trap could slow them down, provided... Yes. There were no other doors or windows in that room. This door was the only way in or out of that room. Taking a deep breath, Naruto carefully removed the wire from his bag, and began to search for other items that could help. He could do this...he hoped...

* * *

Quickly and quietly, Naruto darted down the corridor and down the stairs, searching for somebody—anybody—who could help him. The moment that person got out, they were all in danger, weren't they? He had to be quick. He skidded around the corner at the bottom of the stairs, his eyes frantically glancing around all of the nooks and crannies of the hallway. He was only one floor down. Were the Anbu here safe? Had they been taken out?

"H-hello...?!" Naruto whispered into the darkness, careful not to attract the attention of the man upstairs. Silence pervaded the halls. "I-is anyone there...?! There's an emergency upstairs..!" he whispered, more urgently than before. More silence. Then, from the around the bend, there was a shuffling. Slowly, a silent figure with a fox mask peered out of the darkness, followed by another with a bear mask, her disguise falling as she stared down from the wall at him, seemingly suspended by nothing. Despite being slightly amazed, Naruto mentally slapped himself and got on with it. This was too important to screw up.

"Th-there's someone upstairs...!" Naruto whispered urgently. "They're in one of the rooms with all the forbidden jutsu...!" The two Anbu stared silently at him, then looked at each other, then back at him. Did they not know if he was telling the truth? "Please...! You have to believe me...!" Naruto continued on, his heart hammering in his chest. "There was blood on the floor...! It was just a drop or two, but I think-!"

Naruto was cut off by the sound of an almighty clatter and a grunt. "My trap got set off..." Naruto cringed as his voice came out louder and shakier than he'd expected it to.

He didn't have to say anything more. The Anbu took off faster than he could see, and quickly, people began to emerge from the shadows with masks that he didn't recognise—a sign that they'd been doing their jobs well. The sound of thundering footsteps filled the upper halls as countless Anbu descended from their hiding spots, the sound of wires and clanging metal—sounds that they would have heard in battle—sending them all into battle mode. Only one Anbu stayed on the floor, standing by Naruto, his hand up to an earpiece. In a deep, scratchy voice, he began to speak in a manner that Naruto didn't understand.

 _Secret code...?_

Above him, the sounds of battle began, and immediately, all fear disappeared, instead being replaced by an insatiable curiosity. This was a battle between shinobi... Surely, nobody would mind if he took a quick peek, right? The hall rapidly began to fill with Anbu, and Naruto took the opportunity to take advantage of the confusion. Bolting away from the Anbu who stood near him, still relaying information, Naruto made his way through the crowd and opened one of the windows, slipping out into the cool night air. A well-aimed kunai that embedded itself in the wall and a line of wire through the handle was all Naruto needed to pull himself up to the upper windows.

Curiously, he peered through the windows, clinging to the ledge, desperate for a glimpse of the fight, but between the crowd of Anbu members, he could see nothing. Even so, the sounds of battle were unmistakeable. This was what Naruto's life would be someday. This was what he would live for. Maybe, it was already what he lived for. A strange feeling—excitement and apprehension, he presumed—had settled in the pit of his stomach. _This was it!_

Slowly, the sound of clashing metal and the flashing of jutsu came nearer and nearer, Naruto could see a cloaked figure in the sea of masked people. Closer and closer the person came, dodging strikes from swords and kunai with grace and speed that Naruto didn't even think was possible. Every few seconds, flashes of lightning erupted from her body and they wordlessly cast more and more devastating jutsu, and with every strike, at least one Anbu member cried out.

Naruto pressed himself up against the wall as a window much further along the building was smashed, and two members of Anbu flung themselves out without even looking in his direction, shouting something about the Hokage, their eyes focused on something in the distance. _They're getting Dad... They must be going to my house..._

Naruto looked back up as a particularly loud bang echoed through the hallway, nearly letting go of the ledge in shock. The cloaked person was right in front of him. Instinctively holding a breath, Naruto leaned down, hoping to avoid detection, but something caught his attention. Something that hadn't been there before. Pulling himself back up slightly, Naruto was somewhat able to see what it was. There was something on the person's back that hadn't been there when he'd spied on them through the keyhole. They'd evidently found what it was they were looking for. It was a long, large cylinder. A scroll, perhaps? Naruto had never seen one that big. Even the giant scroll that his godfather carried came nowhere close to the size of that thing.

The cloaked figure made a violent movement, and suddenly, the window above him smashed. Naruto clung to the wall as a bloodied Anbu member soared over his head and plummeted to the ground, hitting it with a sickening thud that Naruto could even hear above all the noise. The person pivoted, their back to the window, and suddenly, Naruto realised that he could do it. He could take back the scroll that she stole.

Slowly, he removed from his pouch one of the few kunai that he had left after making his trap, and with a burst of adrenaline, he pulled himself up and struck the knife down through the top of the leather strap that held the scroll in place, and into the person's shoulder. The person—a woman, by the sound of the shout that she let out—pulled away from the pain, and Naruto tugged at the scroll, which came away easily now that the strap that held it to her body was ruined.

Without even taking a look at his prize, Naruto pulled himself through the window, jumped away from the woman, and as hard as he could, he threw the scroll into the crowd of Anbu, but he didn't even need to. His surprise attack had been enough to throw the woman off for just long enough. Naruto heard a loud gasp and turned to see a hand just inches from his face. It was the woman, her light brown hair slick with sweat, and her light blue eyes wide with pain. A stream of blood dripped from her full lips, and she coughed, sending more splattering to the ground. She had been reaching for him.

A pair of hands roughly grabbed Naruto and pulled him away with a sharp tug just as the woman, who still stood there despite the two swords sticking through her chest and abdomen, gaze a final lurch, and then fell limp. She lay deathly still, and for a few seconds, Naruto dared to hope that she may move again—that she wasn't really dead, because really, this was all too sudden.

Naruto's eyes widened with shock as the Anbu who held onto him hurried him away from the scene. He had expected to see people die in his career. He'd even been prepared to kill, but...he didn't actually expect to see it there and then. It was stupid of him. What else had he expected to see? Did he expect to see the intruder and the Anbu shake hands and apologise? Of course, this would happen. This was the Anbu—an elite force of assassins—so why was it so shocking?

Naruto was dragged back to reality by an urgent, familiar voice. "That was incredibly stupid of you. I only just come off duty, and you go and do this while I'm not around to stop you. What were you thinking?" Naruto looked up into the familiar catlike mask of Kazuki as the Anbu hurried him down the stairs.

"I-I'm sorry!" Naruto hurried to say. "I just thought-!"

"No," the Anbu interjected. "You weren't thinking." Suddenly, he lowered his voice to a whisper so that only the two of them could hear as he directed Naruto down the corridor. "You're the Young Lord, the son of Lord Fourth. Do you know how many people would want to get their hands on you? How many would want to end your life just to get revenge on Lord Fourth? Do you understand just how much work Anbu like myself have to put in every day to keep you safe?"

Of course, he did! Well...he thought he did...

"Never mind," came Kazuki's annoyed voice.

"But...she was killing people, right...?" Naruto muttered, suddenly feeling very guilty. "I distracted her... Didn't I do the right thing...?"

It took a moment for Kazuki to respond.

"Young Lord, just because something went well this time doesn't mean that you should have done it," Kazuki responded with a sigh, his voice quiet and strained. "She was more than capable of killing you. We would have failed in our mission to protect you. This was a result of sheer dumb luck, and next time, you might not be so lucky. Rushing in is not a sign of a good shinobi. Pick your battles wisely, Young Lord, or you may someday find yourself facing someone that you simply don't have the power to overcome."

Naruto grimaced. That stung more than he was willing to admit, but Kazuki was right, even if it didn't feel like he was. Yeah, he'd probably saved some people, but he could have been killed just as easily, and with his dad coming... Did Naruto really need to have jumped in? Now that he thought about it, he was sure that he'd caused the Anbu a lot of stress, and he wasn't even sure what that woman had wanted. The curiosity and an unhealthy amount of worry overwhelmed him as an unwelcome thought entered his mind, and despite his better judgement, he couldn't help but ask.

"W-what did she want…? That woman, I mean… Did she…want to hurt my dad…?" Naruto asked uneasily, his heart suddenly pounding uncomfortably in his chest.

"Young Lord…" Kazuki began with a sigh, seemingly hesitating as though he didn't know what to say. "There's no way we can know that yet," he finally answered, averting his gaze, his voice suddenly much gentler. "A series of investigations still need to be conducted, and even if we had the answer, very few people will be privy to the findings. Unless Lord Fourth makes the decision to tell you, we can't tell you anything."

Hearing those words, Naruto had never felt more powerless. There was a potential threat against the village out there, maybe even specifically against his own father, and Naruto wasn't allowed to know any of it. Realistically, he knew that he didn't need to protect his friends with the older shinobi on the job, and he certainly didn't need to protect his father, but after having seen so many highly-trained Anbu fall in battle so quickly to one person, Naruto couldn't help but feel uneasy about it all.

The thought, however, wasn't allowed to linger long in his mind as a voice from upstairs caught his attention and the voices of the Anbu died down. He couldn't hear what was being said, but that voice almost certainly belonged to his father. There were a few more hushed voices, and then quiet, followed by quick footsteps as someone approached the stairs. As Naruto correctly predicted, the vibrant blond of his father's hair appeared from the top of the staircase as he hurried down it, his startlingly-blue eyes shimmering with worry.

"Naruto! What are you doing here?!" Minato barked, racing forwards before dropping to his knees in front of Naruto to embrace his son in a tight hug, mostly for his own comfort than for Naruto's, Naruto couldn't help but suspect.

"I-I came to get you, but you weren't here…" Naruto stammered awkwardly, "a-and then…"

"I heard," Minato responded with a relieved sigh, but as he pulled away, Naruto saw his worried gaze harden. He was in for it, now. "I also heard that you jumped into a battle and tried to take out a fully-qualified enemy kunoichi who was far above your skill level."

Naruto backed up and gave his father a shy smile. Minato had already begun to search his body for any sign of injury, and Naruto still wasn't quite sure of how to respond to that. His father, however, already seemed to have an idea of where this conversation would be going. He turned to face Kazuki without getting up from his knees, and Naruto finally noticed the large scroll from before on his back, the torn strap tied tightly around his waist.

"Were you the one who pulled him out?" Minato asked quickly, his gaze hidden from view.

"It was, Lord Fourth," Kazuki responded obediently, suddenly standing up very straight.

"I see. I apologise for the trouble that my son caused you. You have my gratitude, Kazuki," Minato told him, his tone sincere and a slight smile on his face.

"I'm honoured to have been of service, sir," Kazuki replied. Naruto could detect no emotion in his voice.

Minato finally stood up and walked past Naruto, opening one of the nearby windows. "You and I…" he began, turning to Naruto, "are going to my office. We need to have a talk." His gaze shifted to Kazuki. "As a member of Team Ro, I'm going to have to ask you to preside over this portion of the investigation. Can you do that?"

"It would be my honour," Kazuki responded, his voice still calm and emotionless. Naruto had to wonder if this was policy in front of the Hokage or something.

"I'll leave it in your capable hands. I'll contact the Yamanaka's. Find out what went wrong. They got through the barrier unnoticed somehow. The clan leaders and the council will also be notified. Do what you can until I return. I'll have more Anbu joining you shortly, and it shouldn't take long for the clan leaders to arrive on the scene," Minato instructed him. Kazuki seemed to stand up even straighter, if such a thing was possible, and in a blur of movement, he was gone.

With Kazuki gone, Naruto opened his mouth to speak even though he still wasn't sure what he was going to say, but yet again, Minato had other plans. He walked over to his son, and before Naruto could protest, he had been scooped up into his father's arms, and in a flash, they were outside the window, Naruto's stomach lurching as he viewed the ground far below. Anticipating the fall and the inevitable pain that would come when they finally hit the ground, Naruto squeezed his eyes shut as the air rushed past them, but…were they really falling…?

Naruto opened his eyes slightly, still afraid of what he would see, but what he saw could only be described as mind-blowing. His father was _running up the side of the building!_ Naruto's eyes widened in shock and awe as they finally came to a stop outside the windows of the Hokage's office, and with a few one-handed seals, Minato awkwardly pressed his hand to the window frame. The window gave a click, and Minato took a step backwards as the window slowly opened up, allowing them entry. Father and son slipped through the window and Naruto was slowly let down, his legs shaking and his eyes still wide with amazement. The window slid shut and audibly locked behind them.

"Y-you just ran…" Naruto stammered quietly.

"Yes," Minato responded bluntly as he walked over to his desk, pulling the seat out with a loud scraping noise.

"Up a wall!"

"Yeah."

"You can walk on walls!"

"Mmhm."

"D-do you need crazy skills to do that, or can anybody do that?! Teach me!" Naruto suddenly found himself demanding, the events of the night temporarily leaving his head.

"Naruto," Minato interrupted, his tone one that left no room for nonsense.

"Y-yes, Dad?" Naruto asked quietly, suddenly feeling quite nervous.

"You're a genius. That trap of yours not only alerted the Anbu, but it slowed down the intruder exponentially," Minato admitted, but he didn't look happy about it.

Naruto stared incredulously, but he couldn't help the somewhat smug smile from making its way onto his face. "I know, Dad," he responded with a chuckle. Minato gave him a stern look.

"Don't ever do it again."

"I can't promise that," Naruto found himself blurting out, his inherent honesty getting the better of him.

"Don't. Ever. Do. It. Again," Minato went on, slowly and deliberately.

"O...K...?" Naruto responded uneasily.

"Promise me," Minato pressed, and suddenly, Naruto could see something akin to fear entering his father's eyes. He didn't like it.

"I... I-I promise..." Naruto finally relented, simply hoping to make that expression go away.

Minato nodded, seeming satisfied as he settled into the chair, reaching for one of the drawers of his desk and pulling out several scrolls which no doubt would soon be addressed to the various clan leaders and council members of the Leaf. Everyone from the old council members to Sasuke's dad would soon be standing in that office, and Naruto couldn't help but wonder if he'd be welcome. In fact, it seemed as though his father had forgotten about him entirely, Naruto noticed as his dad started to write the first letter.

"Dad…?" Naruto tried, taking a meek step forward, a burning question at the front of his mind.

"Hm…?" Minato responded, sounding distracted as he paused midsentence, his pen hovering over the paper.

"What is that…?" Naruto asked curiously.

Minato glanced up. "What's what?" he asked before finally seeming to decide on the wording of his sentence. His pen scratched furiously across the paper, and Naruto seemed to lose his attention once more.

"That. On your back. The scroll…thing… It's even bigger than Jiraiya's scroll," Naruto noted, craning his neck to see the scroll.

Minato let out a chuckle. "There's a lot of content in this thing. It's very old. It's a scroll of forbidden jutsu," he explained, straightening up to give his son a proper answer.

"Wow… What makes a jutsu forbidden…?" Naruto inquired, eyes wide with excitement. "Are they, like, evil jutsu or something…?"

"Not necessarily," Minato responded, glancing down at the scrolls once again before thinking better of it at reaching up to remove the scroll from his back. "They can be forbidden for a number of reasons, but not all of them are necessarily banned. Some have been used for bad purposes. Others just aren't safe enough to teach to people without the proper chakra reserves. Very few people can safely perform these. They were hidden away to reduce the risk to the village's shinobi. It would take someone with chakra reserves like your mother's to perform most of these properly. Maybe you might even be able to handle some of these."

"Me…?" Naruto asked incredulously. "So, they're not, like, super hard to learn or something…?"

Minato shook his head. "Mostly, yes, but look at this," Minato started before hurriedly adding, "I trust you to keep this quiet, by the way."

Minato peeled the scroll open and Naruto hurried his way over to peek over his shoulder, only for his face to fall flat in disappointment as he viewed the first jutsu on the list. He let out a groan and took a step backwards, looking decidedly unimpressed. Minato couldn't help but chuckle at the expression on his son's face.

"Bunshin no Jutsu…?" Naruto groaned. "If that's the sort of thing that's in there, I'm not interested."

Minato laughed a little louder. "This isn't your standard Bunshin no Jutsu. This is Kage Bunshin no Jutsu—a B-rank technique. The clones that the Bunshin no Jutsu produces aren't corporeal." Naruto gave him a strange, confused look, and Minato rolled his eyes before elaborating. "You can't touch them," he explained. When Naruto seemed to understand, he continued. "These clones are just as real as you and I. Unlike the other clones, they can produce real damage, and they can even mould chakra to perform jutsu. It's a highly dangerous technique, and it takes a lot of chakra to even produce one clone. Thankfully, the chakra control that's needed for it isn't quite as precise, so you can focus on amount, instead, and…"

Minato suddenly trailed off, staring down at the scroll with a strange intensity. Naruto frowned and leaned down, only to be somewhat startled as his father's eyes, once more filled with worry, met his own. To Naruto's surprise, his father reached up, his expression sad, and he rested a hand on his son's cheek. Naruto couldn't help but mirror his expression, and he reached up with a shaky hand to take his father's hand in his own, desperately wishing that he could put how sorry he was for worrying him into words. His father was having a much harder time keeping himself together than he appeared.

"I really don't want to lose you, Naruto…" Minato finally whispered, stroking his son's cheek with his thumb.

"You won't," Naruto assured him, trying his best to seem confident, but Minato simply shook his head.

"There's no guarantee. Not out there," Minato responded sadly. "I…" The Hokage trailed off, taking in every feature of his son's face. "I need you to be ready… If you're going to stay safe…you're going to need an edge on the competition… Something enemies won't expect…"

"H-how do I do that…?" Naruto finally relented, his grip on his father's hand tightening.

"Naruto, I trust you," Minato told him matter-of-factly, and Naruto could hear the sincerity in his voice. "I'm going to be calling some of the most important people in this village here. While they're here…" Minato's gaze drifted down to the scroll once more, and removing his hand from Naruto's face, he turned it over and ran a finger along the page, the light of his chakra following it as the scroll was sealed shut, all but for the first jutsu—Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. "While they're here," Minato continued, lifting the scroll up to Naruto, "I want you to learn this."

"But-!" Naruto protested. After everything that had happened, Naruto didn't particularly feel as though he had the patience to learn such a jutsu that night. He already felt as though he'd be bad at it, and he didn't particularly want another knock to his confidence.

"Naruto, this will help to keep you safe. Not only that, but you'll be able to use it in place of the Bunshin no Jutsu in your exam. If you won't do it for me, do it for your mother. Neither of us want to lose you," Minato told him, his gaze stern once more.

 _Wait… I can pass the exam with this…?_ Naruto found himself thinking, a glimmer of hope sparking in his chest. _Didn't Dad say that this would be easier for me?!_

Naruto found himself slowly taking the heavy scroll, and his father lifted a loose sheet of paper from his desk, scribbling something down on it and signing it with a flourish, then stamped the empty space at the bottom with an official-looking seal. The paper was pressed into Naruto's right hand, and Naruto struggled to read what it said.

 _I, the Fourth Hokage, formally give Uzumaki Naruto permission to learn from the Scroll of Seals. The scroll is not to be confiscated for any reason. I will personally retrieve it when Uzumaki Naruto's task is complete._

 _Signed,_

 _Namikaze Minato_

 _Fourth Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato._

"Give that to anybody who bothers you," Minato instructed, pointing to the paper. "Go down the hallway to the right. One of the larger storage rooms will be open. I'd rather have you train somewhere a bit bigger, but I'd also rather you be here, and I doubt the clan heads will be too happy to have you practice in here while we're discussing what's just happened."

"Do you…?" Naruto began, trailing off as he looked down at the scroll in his arms. "Do you really believe I can do it…?"

"I do," Minato responded with a nod and a sad smile. "You're my son, after all."

"But, that doesn't-" Naruto began to protest against his father's ridiculous statement, but was cut off as his father raised a hand.

"I suppose you'll just have to imagine the look on young Sasuke's face when you get it right, eh…?" Minato replied, winking teasingly.

Naruto's mind went blank, only to be filled with the image of Sasuke's jealous face as he finally beat him in something. Then, he imagined the proud faces of his parents, and, well…

 _I just have to learn it, right…?_

 ** _NARUTO_**

 _Translations:_

 _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu - Shadow Clone Jutsu._

 _Konohagakure no Sato - The Village Hidden by Tree Leaves._


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto._

 ** _NARUTO_**

It was early in the morning when Naruto finally hauled himself into the classroom, tired, just a little bit sore, and desperate to fall into his seat. The hustle and bustle in the classroom was the same as always, and soon, Sakura had slid into her seat next to him, bidding him a cheerful, "Good morning!" as she usually did. Almost as soon as the words left her mouth, Sasuke seated himself on the opposite side of Naruto with a quiet grunt of acknowledgement. The two of them looked very well rested, and how Naruto envied them…

It was then, though, that he heard Iruka's voice, sounding much hastier than usual. The door slid open, and in came their teacher, his eyes scanning the classroom until they landed on Naruto. Naruto watched, confused, as Iruka held up a hand and beckoned him down. With a groan, Naruto got up and slipped past Sasuke, trying to make his walk down the stairs look a lot sprightlier than he felt.

Naruto grinned wearily at Iruka as he approached the somewhat emptier corner of the classroom. "What's wrong?" he found himself asking, somewhat concerned. _It's not like I've done anything… At least, not that I remember…_

As Naruto neared him, Iruka took a deep sigh and rushed forwards, arms outstretched. To Naruto's shock, his teacher, with an expression of concern, began to check his face and hands, looking for something, but what it was Naruto wasn't quite sure. Naruto, taken aback, froze somewhat as Iruka continued on until he was satisfied, before letting out another deep sigh, this one definitely filled with relief. He fixed his eyes on Naruto.

"Lord Hokage told me about what happened the other night… Thank goodness, you're OK… Are you hurt…?" Iruka asked hurriedly, his voice little more than a whisper.

Naruto gaped. "W-well…no… I'm not…" he muttered, unsure of how to react to the situation.

"Thank goodness…" Iruka repeated, clutching Naruto's shoulders tightly. Suddenly, his gaze hardened. "You can't just go running into battle like that…! What if you'd been killed…?! I…" Iruka trailed off, leaving Naruto standing there in stunned silence. It was a good long moment before Iruka dared to continue with a weak, "I'm just…glad you're OK…" His voice was cracking—something that was hard to miss.

If he was honest, Naruto was somewhat grateful for the attention that Iruka often gave him. With his father being cooped up in the office an awful lot, and his mother being a kunoichi who was often out on missions, he had to admit… The attention was nice. Iruka spoke to him like a father would, and in the absence of his own a lot of the time, he liked the experience. It was one of the reasons why Naruto liked his teacher so much.

"Have you been cleared to sit the exam?" Iruka finally asked, satisfied with the answers that he'd been given.

"Yeah…" Naruto muttered, but suddenly, he found that he couldn't help but grin, pride swelling in his chest at the thought of everything he'd done the night before. "I've been practicing really hard, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed. "I'm gonna pass! Just you watch!"

Iruka, seeing his bright expression, smiled softly. "Well, in that case, I'll wish you the best of luck, Naruto," Iruka responded sincerely. Naruto's grin only widened. "I'll see you again after the written test."

Naruto deflated… He'd forgotten about that part…

"Ugh…" Naruto groaned, stretching himself over his desk in the hopes of working the pain out of his back, sore from having sat in one place for so long. The test papers had been collected not long prior, and his thoughts were still on it and the criminally hard questions that it had asked. He thought back to Sasuke and Sakura scribbling furiously on either side of him during the test, and couldn't help but consider them to be something akin to superhuman.

As they spoke, Iruka and Mizuki would be in the other room, rapidly calculating the scores for the test, and the moment they were finished, they would be expected to complete the practical portion of the test. It wouldn't be until they completed both that they got their final scores and learned whether or not they passed or failed. It was, if his parents were right, a quick process with both teachers working on it, but even so, it was going to seem like a very long time.

Naruto glanced up at Sakura as she stood up to stretch. "How do you think you did…?" he asked tiredly, refusing to lift his head up from the desk.

Sakura glanced down at him before turning her eyes away in thought. "Hmm…" she hummed. "Well, the questions were easy enough. I'm almost certain that I've passed, at the very least."

Naruto groaned, disheartened. "Is that so…?"

"Sakura, any idiot with two braincells to rub together could pass that test," Sasuke grumbled with a roll of his eyes. "If Naruto couldn't pass something that simple, it's his own fault."

Naruto sprang up far faster than he should have, feeling his tiredness more keenly than he had before. "I didn't say that I'd fail, idiot!" he snapped, barely stopping himself from throwing a punch at Sasuke.

"Really?" Sasuke smirked. "Better work harder, then. Everything about you is betraying you right now."

Naruto glared, barely able to contain himself, but eventually, he managed to take a deep, shaky breath. "Nope," he stated resolutely, turning his nose up at Sasuke. "Not today. I worked hard. I'm going to pass. I'm not letting you ruin this for me."

"Hm," Sasuke grunted. "That would be a first."

 _"I'm not letting you ruin this for me,"_ Naruto repeated through gritted teeth.

"Come on, Sasuke. Stop it. You heard him. He's worked hard. Don't throw him off with the practical so close," Sakura scolded, blushing red with embarrassment. Sasuke mere turned up his own nose as the door slid open, and in came Iruka.

"OK!" the teacher shouted, gesturing to the class. "Settle down everybody!"

Unlike in previous lessons, the class calmed down quite rapidly, eager to hear about the next portion of the exam. Iruka scanned the classroom for a moment, ensuring that everyone was in their proper places and listening. He walked behind his desk and placed the clipboard in his hand down.

"Now that everyone has settled, I would just like to say that your scores have been calculated. The next portion of the exam will now begin," Iruka told them, his gaze serious. The class didn't make a peep. "One by one, you will be called into the neighbouring room where you will be asked to complete a jutsu that we have chosen to our specifications."

Again, he let his eyes scan the classroom, and Naruto suddenly found himself shrinking under his gaze, sweating heavily with nerves. "The chosen jutsu will be…" The silence was deafening. Nervous students leaned forward in their seats as Iruka drew out the silence longer and longer for dramatic effect. "…Bunshin no Jutsu."

The class erupted with sighs of relief and moans of horror. Naruto visibly deflated, although he wasn't sure if that was because of relief, or because of disappointment. Despite his training, his confidence in this area really could have been better. He gripped the table nervously as his teacher silently beckoned for calm.

"Using this jutsu, you must create at least two fully-formed clones. You will each be called in alphabetical order. When you have completed the test, you will be instructed on who to send in next. The test will begin immediately," Iruka informed them bluntly, looking down at his clipboard. Finally, he looked up, locking eyes with a student in the back row "Abe Gorou, please follow me."

As the boy slowly and nervously made his way down to the front, Naruto couldn't help but wonder if his father was correct, and his new jutsu would be accepted at all. He swallowed heavily and sank down deeper into his seat, feeling himself break out in a cold sweat. He felt Sasuke's eyes on him, and he suddenly became conscious of several sympathetic gazes being shot his way from around the classroom, but found himself too nervous to care. Glancing up, he saw that Sakura was one of them, and he offered her a shaky smile, which she returned. Naruto's heart sank. She evidently didn't expect him to do well.

Needless to say, time crawled past, and the slower it seemed to go, the more Naruto found to panic about. They might not accept the jutsu. He might get nervous and fail, or he might be too tired to mould his chakra properly. What if he overdid the number and hurt somebody by accident? Would he fail over an accident like that? He hoped not.

Eventually, Sakura was called, and it was all Naruto could do to offer her a shaky grin and a thumbs-up. She smiled back and gave Naruto and Sasuke a nervous little wave, bounding down the steps to the front of the classroom and hurrying out the door. It was, as Naruto fully expected, not long before she returned to the classroom, a smile stretched from ear to ear, a brand new forehead protector glinting in the sunlight that shone through the windows holding her hair back in place of her usual ribbon. Despite his predicament, Naruto couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. Sakura paused beside another student at the other side of the classroom, and as that student got up to leave, Sakura made her way back up the steps to her seat.

"It's really not that bad," she told the two boys next to her with a relieved smiled that was seemingly mostly aimed at Naruto. "It's just an empty room. You go in, perform the jutsu when they tell you to, and leave. Iruka-sensei and Mizuki-sensei are being really good about it, too. After I passed, they told me that one of the people who passed before me got their eye colour wrong on one of the clones, and they passed him. It was still fully-functional, so it met their expectations. You'll be fine."

Again, Naruto could almost feel that that statement had been directed at him. He offered her a nervous smile, trying to appear more confident, but really, that wasn't the problem. His problem was whether or not they would accept his jutsu at all!

Sasuke scoffed. "They'll let anybody through these days, apparently."

"Well, we're not in times of peace, but we're not exactly at war, Sasuke," Sakura reasoned, placing a finger to her lower lip in thought. "Maybe they can afford to be a little more relaxed about it all."

"It sets a bad example," Sasuke grumbled. "Shinobi are a symbol of power, and it doesn't bode well if the genin aren't up to scratch. The other shinobi villages will look down on us with this sort of standard." He glanced at Naruto. "You should bring that up with your father. Tell him to get the teachers in the Academy in line. Otherwise, they'll let people like yourself through."

"Just watch," Naruto responded, hoping that he sounded more confident than he felt. "I'll make you eat those words."

Sasuke smirked, but left it at that as the student that Sakura had sent through returned, a forehead protector on his head, too. It seemed as though everybody was getting them, and Naruto couldn't help but worry if he'd be the only one to return without one. He could almost imagine the looks on everyone's faces… This disappointment on his parents' faces when they heard that he would have to repeat the year… The looks of disapproval on the faces of the council members when they saw how bad he'd made his father look…

Eventually, Sasuke stood and left. If he recalled, going alphabetically, he'd be next. He gulped as Sakura waved towards Sasuke, offering him a quiet, "Good luck…" Sasuke ignored her.

Naruto's gaze fixed on the door, the sound of the clock echoing across the quiet room, only serving to make his heart pound harder. The wait was almost more than he could take. In mere moments, he would be going into that room and whether his father's plan would work or not would be come to light. No matter how much he wanted to trust in his dad… Well, it was easy for him to say that it would work. He wasn't the one in this situation!

It wasn't long before Sasuke returned, his forehead protector predictably tied around his head. He walked up the steps, but didn't sit down, standing to the side. "Your turn," he told Naruto bluntly, briefly tilting his head towards the door.

Naruto didn't respond, shakily standing and making his way down the steps, only turning around when Sakura called down to him with a, "Good luck!" and an enthusiastic wave. To his surprise, as he looked around the classroom, he saw a few encouraging grins and waves from some friends—Kiba, Shikamaru and Chōji. Even Hinata, normally shy and blushing furiously, was trying her best to give him a smile. Naruto offered an awkward smile back and hurried out the door.

Immediately, Naruto saw a sign on the wall. It was a simple piece of paper that had been taped to the wall with an unnecessarily large amount of tape. The arrow pointing to the right immediately caught his eye, and Naruto stepped forwards to take a closer look at the writing.

'Genin Graduation Exam – Room 5.'

Room 5. He knew where that was. Checking again to make sure that he'd gotten the room right, Naruto hurried down the familiar hallways of the Academy, only stopping when he stood outside the room that he had been directed to. Sakura was right. This had always been an empty room, always devoid of the usual desks, and even the raked seating. Naruto had wondered what it was for every so often, and now, it seemed as though he had the answer.

Taking a deep, shaky breath, Naruto slowly slid the door open, attracting the attention of the occupants within. As he stepped inside, he noticed that a large desk and a small table had been moved into the room. Behind the desk sat his two teachers, Mizuki smiling amicably, and Iruka regarding him with a serious expression, evidently taking his job rather seriously. Naruto slid the door shut behind him and made his way further into the room, unable to take his eyes off the forehead protectors lying on the desk in front of him, the metal plates on the front glimmering seductively in the sunlight.

How he wished to be wearing one of them…

"Naruto! Come in!" Mizuki beckoned the boy in with a grin.

"Please stand here, Naruto," Iruka continued bluntly, gesturing towards the centre of the floor, about 10 feet away from the table. Naruto quickly stood where his teacher had indicated, and he watched as Iruka's dark eyes scanned the paper on the clipboard in front of him. "I'll repeat the criteria. You must create two fully-formed clones. Good luck." With that, he leaned back.

Naruto gulped as Mizuki gave him a nod of encouragement. Slowly raising his shaking hands, Naruto watched his teachers carefully, noting Iruka's rapidly softening expression, brimming with pity, and dread settled in his stomach at the thought that his teacher didn't believe in him. Taking a deep breath, Naruto closed his eyes tightly, almost afraid to watch their reactions, and brought up his hands. There was a shocked gasp as Iruka and Mizuki recognised the different hand seal, but Naruto didn't stop to let them go on. His chakra raged inside of him and burst out of his pores in the way that he had come to expect from his training.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

 _Oops… That was the wrong one…_ Naruto barely got the chance to think to himself as he found himself immediately crushed by a large number of…well, himself, each and every one of them complaining loudly about the lack of space, some crushed into oblivion, disappearing in poofs of smoke as the pressure along the walls became too much for them. Over the voices of his clones, he heard his teachers shouting something in alarm, and he barely managed to raise his hands to dispel the monstrosities that he had created.

As Naruto watched his teachers pick themselves up, both of them dishevelled, Iruka's forehead protector askew, his mind went back to that worry that he'd had before. Would he be disqualified for accidentally maiming his teachers with an equally accidental Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu?

 _That was definitely too much chakra…_

"Naruto…" he finally heard Iruka mutter, his expression and tone unreadable. There was an odd moment of silence before a grin split his teacher's face. "Naruto… Wow! Where have you been hiding that?!" Iruka exclaimed breathlessly.

Naruto, understandably taken aback, stared at his teacher with wide eyes. "Um… Well… Nowhere, I guess… It's new…"

"And you… You just learned an A-rank jutsu! Not even just the B-rank Kage Bunshin!" Iruka went on unabated, unable to hold himself back from leaning over the desk, his eyes glittering like an excited child.

"Well…that was an accident…" Naruto sheepishly admitted. "I meant to make less… Dad said that it would be a good alternative that needs more chakra, but I think I need to put less into them…"

"Even so…!" Iruka grinned, amazed. "You've more than met the criteria! You've exceeded every student in this class!"

"Now, hold on!" Mizuki suddenly interjected, looking quite panicked. "He used the wrong jutsu-!"

"Don't be so harsh. It's still Bunshinjutsu, and he didn't just meet the criteria. He exceeded it!" Iruka went on, rounding the desk lifting a forehead protector from the floor, drawing Naruto's attention to the fact that he'd flipped the table. "Well done, Naruto!"

Both Mizuki and Naruto gaped in disbelief as Iruka walked up to Naruto, holding out the forehead protector with an air of pride. "You did it, Naruto," Iruka told him with a smile. "Take it."

Naruto's gaze dropped to the forehead protector, and he took it in shaking hands. Despite having held one so many times, he was suddenly very aware of the weight of it. He ran his fingers across the thick, coarse fabric and the smooth, shiny surface, warmed by the sun, in disbelief that such a thing could be his.

"Go on, then, and send Ino in next," Iruka told him with a wink, turning Naruto around and giving him a pat on the back as something of a send-off. "I'll handle Mizuki-sensei…" he whispered in Naruto's ear before turning around and walking away with a proud grin plastered on his face.

Almost afraid that his hard-won forehead protector would be taken from him, he bolted from the classroom and down the hallway. It was only after he had turned a few corners that he dared to think about even putting it on. Tearing his goggles off with vigour, he ensured that the forehead protector was the correct way up and tied it to his forehead.

It was with a sudden feeling of importance that Naruto walked down the hallways with a spring in his step and opened the classroom door, a grin on his face that he felt could never possibly disappear. He turned to face the class, some of whom were eagerly looking at him for the rather obvious sign that he had passed.

Kiba was apparently the first to notice as he gave a whoop of joy and leapt up, Akamaru letting out a disgruntled yap as the poor puppy was nearly thrown from his partner's head. Shikamaru smiled in satisfaction, leaning even further back in his chair, and Chōji gave him a thumbs-up and an animated grin. As he passed, the chubby boy held out his bag of crisps as Naruto passed by and the blond boy gladly took one, cramming it in his mouth before leaning over the desk to speak to Ino.

"Your turn, Ino," Naruto told her with a grin.

Ino took a deep breath to steady herself and stood up, tightening her long ponytail. "Right…" she whispered. "Thanks…" Chōji stood to let her pass, and Ino jogged down the steps. "I'll be back!" she called back at her classmates with a nervous smile before running out the door.

Sakura got up to let Naruto pass, and the boy slipped into his seat, mentally exhausted. Sasuke looked away and said nothing as Sakura grinned at Naruto, admiring his new forehead protector, identical to her own. There was a moment of silence, and then her grin settled into a gentle smile. She patted Naruto on the back.

"See? Told you. You need to listen to me more often," she joked, reaching up to fiddle with her own forehead protector.

Naruto sank down further in his seat. "Even so…" He let out a sigh of relief. "That was stressful…"

"Still, you did it! You really _did_ train hard, didn't you?" Sakura remarked, and Naruto grinned proudly.

"Yeah. Dad helped me out," Naruto admitted sheepishly, watching Sasuke perk up out of the corner of his eye.

"I'd have thought your father was busy," Sasuke stated bluntly, turning around to face the boy next to him with a critical gaze.

"Well, it's more like he told me what to do, and I just went off and did it," Naruto rephrased, shrugging his shoulders.

"Even so, my father left in something of a hurry the other night, and he's been mostly gone since. I presumed that something happened," Sasuke responded, badly feigning indifference. It was evident that he wanted to know what was going on, but if Sasuke's dad hadn't said anything, was it all top secret?

 _Should I say anything?_

"Ah, well…" Naruto started with an awkward, apologetic smile. "Well…this and that happened…"

"Oh. Dad was going to see Lord Hokage, then?" Shikamaru asked somewhat absentmindedly.

"My dad, too," Chōji stated, nodding in understanding. "It must have been pretty important.

"Well…" Naruto trailed off before finally finishing with a half-hearted, "I don't know if I'm supposed to talk about it…"

"Fair enough," Shikamaru piped up. "It's politics. He has his reasons."

Just then, the door slid open, and in came Ino, beaming. She jogged back up the steps, and Chōji stood to let her back in. As she slid past him, Chōji looked at her, pushing another crisp into his mouth with a crunch.

"Hey, Ino, did your dad run off the other night, too?" Chōji asked curiously.

"Yeah," Ino responded as she sank into her seat. "Urgent business with Lord Hokage. Did all the other Clan Heads go?"

"Supposedly," Shikamaru groaned, leaning his head on the desk. "It's a secret. No point in prying. The adults will tell us if it concerns us."

Ino nodded in thought just as the door opened, and in came both teachers, Mizuki looking rather frustrated, and Iruka looking a little guilty for some reason. Ino was just about the only person who didn't look surprised.

"Ugh… They were like that throughout the whole test…" Naruto heard Ino mutter to Chōji and Shikamaru. "They made me wait while they were talking about something, too… It's a good thing the test was so short…"

"Right…" Iruka muttered with a sigh. "Well, the good news is, you all passed, but you all already knew that," Iruka told them, his expression of guilt morphing into something akin to pride. "Well done to each and every one of you. Now, we'll briefly discuss what will happen in the next couple of days."

Placing his clipboard down, Iruka leaned on the desk. "Tomorrow, each and every one of you will report to the Hokage Residence at 11:00 sharp. There, your paperwork will be completed. You'll be given a Shinobi Registration Number which you'll be required to remember, and you'll have your picture taken for identification. After this you will remain on standby for a day to allow for your four-man cells to be decided upon, and then, you will return to this classroom the following day where you will be assigned to your team. You will then meet your jōnin-sensei, and from then on…you will all be moving on from here…" Iruka finished sadly, looking around at all of the faces in the classroom.

"You've all studied hard, and I'm proud of each and every one of you," Iruka went on, taking a deep sigh as he took in the scene around him. "We're going to miss you all. You're free to go. Make all of us proud, and take care."

Strangely enough, that was easy for him to say, because it took a very long time before anybody dared to stand, as though nobody wanted to. It all seemed so…blunt. Nevertheless, one by one, people walked out, muttering sincere words of gratitude and shaking the hands of their teachers, Iruka eagerly accepting every small hand that was offered to him. Soon, Naruto was the only one left, holding out his hand, which his beloved former teacher took with a guilty smile, Mizuki leaving the classroom without a word, looking more than a little annoyed.

"I have to apologise, Naruto. You passed with flying colours, but I still couldn't give you the highest marks in the practical portion," Iruka told him, averting his gaze.

"Huh…?" Naruto responded, perplexed.

"Mizuki-sensei… He argued that you used the wrong jutsu. I felt that it was correct, but he didn't. He tried to have you failed, and in the end, I had to concede with having you pass with your practical marks cut in half," Iruka explained, his hand tightening around Naruto's, the older man gritting his teeth in anger. "You did much better than your scores reflect, I can tell you that much."

Naruto couldn't help but pout, and he was about to protest, shocked that his normally kind teacher could have argued such a thing, yet he quickly stopped as he saw how… _depressed_ Iruka looked, for lack of a better word. Naruto had never seen the man look so down. Naruto's grip on his teacher's hand tightened awkwardly and he looked away, not sure of what to say. Finally, he swallowed and spoke the first words that came to his mind.

"Well, I mean…you tried your best, right…? It can only go up from here…" Naruto muttered, forcing each word out.

"Yes…and hey! You passed! Congratulations! I'm proud of you!" Iruka exclaimed, trying to look a lot happier. "You just…look after yourself out there, OK?"

"I will," Naruto responded, a lot more confident now that he was back in a more comfortable territory. "I…" Naruto stopped. He wasn't sure of what else to say.

"Listen, Naruto," Iruka suddenly stated, letting go of Naruto's hand and taking hold of his shoulders. "I really am proud of you. I always hoped that you would pass, even with the difficulties that you had grasping the jutsu and…if I'm honest, I was really pleased to see your new jutsu. It tells me…" Iruka paused, seemingly swallowing against a lump that had suddenly formed in his throat. "It tells me…that I don't have to worry about you anymore."

Naruto was taken aback, a rush of warmth that running through him. A blush rose to his cheeks and he chuckled awkwardly, his brain suddenly no longer functioning properly in the face of such flattery. He had to figure out how to respond to that, but how could he?!

"Well…" Naruto began, words forming in his mind, but he wondered whether or not in was appropriate to speak them. In the absence of any alternatives, though, he pressed onwards. "Well…I should thank you, Iruka-sensei… I'm…actually really grateful for everything that you've taught me…and not just in class…!" Naruto paused, looking deeply into his teacher's eyes as he steeled himself for what he was about to say next. "Iruka-sensei, my dad isn't around much. I don't get the chance to learn from him like other kids do with their dads, so when you started to properly teach me right from wrong, and about being a good person, and when you helped me when I was getting bullied and all that when Dad was working, and Mum was always away on missions…it kinda… Well, I wondered if that was what it was like to have a dad who was…around, you know…?"

The moment the words left his mouth, Naruto found himself averting his gaze once more, the warm feeling rapidly being replaced with shame. "Sorry…" he murmured, taking a step back. "I shouldn't have said that…"

What he didn't expect to hear, though, was a sniff. Naruto's eyes shot back up to Iruka's face, watching as the man wiped away a few tears. "You know…" Iruka tried to respond, choking slightly. "You know, despite your attitude, you were always my favourite student… I liked how you brought so much life to the classroom… I'll miss that… It's children like you who remind me of why I became a teacher…" Iruka admitted before rapidly adding, "but don't tell the others that," with a mischievous wink. "I'm always going to be here if you need me. Make sure that you remember that."

Naruto grinned up at his teacher, the warm feeling rushing back to him, along with a sense of relief. Iruka was looking him up and down, taking in every inch of him as though he was afraid of forgetting it. Finally, after a long, hard look, Iruka reached up, whipping off his forehead protector. Before Naruto could say anything, Iruka had taken off his forehead protector, too, and with a swift movement, Iruka's forehead protector was pulled down over Naruto's forehead and tightened. Naruto looked up as Iruka put Naruto's shiny, new forehead protector on, then watched as the man held out his fist.

"Knock 'em dead out there," Iruka told him with a grin.

Naruto froze, and it took a long time for him to reach up to touch the forehead protector that he'd been given. With a happy grin, he finally touched his fist to Iruka's, feeling warm and fuzzy as he ran his free hand along the bumps and scrapes along the metal that came from Iruka's years of experience.

Someday, he would earn those bumps and scratches, himself.

"I'll make you proud," Naruto responded with an even bigger grin. "Just you watch."

 _"Naruto!"_

Over the sounds of parents and their children talking avidly at the Academy gates, Naruto heard a familiar voice shouting much louder than the others were and immediately cringed. Rapidly, the people around the gate quietened and started to mutter, craning their heads to see who was shouting in such an embarrassing way. There, by the gate, was his mother, hair as vibrant as always, shining like a beacon against her formal white Uzumaki Clan robes as she waved an embarrassingly large flag over her head with the Uzumaki Clan symbol emblazoned upon it, screaming his name like an avid fangirl. All around her, parents and children were edging away, almost embarrassed to be seen with her.

Naruto could understand that.

Slowly and awkwardly, he made his way over to the gate, briefly wondering if he could make a run for it to avoid further embarrassment, but quickly deciding against it. He would get a telling off for it later if he did. He did his best to smile as he came up beside his mother, quickly pointing at his new forehead protector, only for his mother's cheering to become even louder.

"Woooo! My son is a _shinobi! Go Naruto!"_ she shouted excitedly.

"Mum… Thanks, but…calm down…" Naruto hissed. _"Please…!"_

"Oh, Kushina!" came a familiar voice, stopping Kushina before she could start up again.

"Mikoto!" Kushina exclaimed as Sasuke's mother—a beautiful woman with dark hair and eyes, wearing a purple blouse and a red skirt—came up beside Kushina and Naruto, almost dragging Sasuke behind her. "Look at us, eh? Our children are _shinobi!_ Can you believe it-'ttebane?!"

Mikoto let out a gentle laugh, tilting her head to look down at Sasuke who looked just as embarrassed as Naruto felt. For the first time that day, Sasuke shot Naruto a look filled with sympathy and understanding, and Naruto could see why. Just behind them both, Itachi, in his ANBU uniform, was trying to stop himself from losing his composure entirely, a stupid grin on his face, Fugaku desperately trying to pull him away from the scene while maintaining an air of grace and control. Naruto had to admit, this was a side of Sasuke's family that he'd never seen before, nor was it one that he even thought to have existed, but if his own overemotional father had been here, Naruto could have imagined a similar scene playing out, too, although it might have been one involving tears in the case of his father. There was no way that either of them were going to be able to play this off. They were in this one together, if only just for the moment.

"I know!" Mikoto finally responded, looking down at the boys. "Our two babies passed!"

"Mum, please. Stop it," Sasuke told his mother bluntly, only to receive a light-hearted chuckle in response.

"I know I shouldn't say this to somebody else's mum, but I'm going to have to agree with Sasuke. Just…stop it, please. Before we both die inside," Naruto said somewhat hesitantly, uncomfortable with backing Sasuke up. To his credit, the Uchiha looked equally uncomfortable with the new development. Infuriatingly, Mikoto only laughed teasingly, and to their horror, Kushina reached over to pinch their cheeks, succeeding before they could leap away.

"Best friends, too! Isn't that lucky? You might be on the same team!" Kushina suggested excitedly.

"Whoa! Wait!" Naruto yelped, pushing her hand away, suddenly blushing furiously. "We are _not_ friends!"

"Sure, you are!" Kushina declared, sounding very sure of herself. "Friends and rivals, ever since you were just wee things!"

"Oh, do you remember their first little fight?" Mikoto gushed, smiling happily.

"Yes! It was in our living room!" Kushina responded quickly, eyes shining brightly.

"Sitting on the floor with their toys…" Mikoto reminisced wistfully.

"Sasuke hit Naruto with his toy while they were playing by accident, and Naruto just _refused_ to take that lying down!" Kushina continued with a laugh.

"They were barely sitting up at that age…" Mikoto mused fondly, staring off into the distance.

"Of course, they couldn't have done any _real_ damage…" Kushina reasoned, looking down at the two boys who were trying their hardest to quell the furious blushes that they were sporting. The tips of Sasuke's ears had gone red, and Naruto looked as though he was about to catch fire.

"They've been inseparable ever since…!" Mikoto replied with the same sense of sureness that her best friend had displayed earlier.

"Mum, be quiet!" Naruto finally snapped, turning his head away so that nobody could see his reddened face.

"That's a bold-faced lie. Inseparable, my ass," Sasuke responded with an irritated grunt, glaring up at his mother, who clapped a hand over her mouth and glanced around at the onlookers as though scandalised.

"Sasuke…! Language…!" Mikoto hissed, sounding disappointed. Sasuke rolled his eyes and visibly pouted, and Naruto couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy and understanding that only two people with mothers like theirs could experience.

Naruto found himself elbowing Sasuke as, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the fiendish grins of Kiba and Chōji, who he had no doubt would be teasing them about this later. The bored, frustrated expression that Shikamaru wore told Naruto that he'd be no help. He turned just in time to see Sasuke turn away again, and by the troubled expression on his face, he'd come to the same conclusion that Naruto had, and was equally unwilling to deal with the stupidity of their classmates.

"Well…" Sasuke said rather suddenly and without much thought, vaguely gesturing towards the rest of his family, Itachi still visibly trying to stop himself from grinning quite so widely, and failing miserably. "I have things to deal with…over there…"

"Yes…!" Naruto continued, catching onto what Sasuke was doing. "My dad's going to want to know how I did… He's…uh…gonna want all the details…and stuff…"

"Oh! Yes! Your father's likely been on the edge of his seat all morning!" Kushina exclaimed, clapping a hand to her mouth. "I completely forgot! You should go on, honey. I'm sure he'll want to give you all of his attention, eh?" Kushina told him with a mischievous wink, before leaning in to plant a kiss on her son's cheek.

Afraid of the consequences of taking that lying down in front of his classmates, Naruto quickly squirmed out of the way, shouting a hurried, "OK! See you later! Bye, Sasuke!"

"Yeah!" Sasuke shouted back, sounding somewhat stressed as he bolted towards his father and brother. "Bye!"

Leaving his mother to protest at the Academy gates, Naruto quickly made his way down the street, earning many a stare from the disbelieving villagers as they eyed his forehead protector with apprehension. Despite the stares, though, Naruto couldn't help but proudly tighten what he had decided was his most treasured possession. No matter what people seemed to think of him, it just didn't seem to be getting to him that day. It wasn't as though he would see them for long, anyway. He rounded the corner, running towards the gate on the other side of the Academy that led to the administrative portion of the building.

Naruto ran into the building, barely stopping to greet and thank the Anbu as he usually did, and raced up the stairs. Before he could reach the office, though, Naruto caught sight of a familiar catlike mask appearing from the shadows of a corridor.

"Young Lord," Kazuki said quickly, prompting Naruto to slow to a stop. "You may have to wait for a little while to see Lord Fourth. He's currently in a meeting with the Konoha Honoured Opinion Watch."

Naruto could tell that he had visibly deflated, and he found himself wondering how long those old curmudgeons would be monopolising his father's time. He let out a frustrated sigh and cast his eyes towards the staircase that led to the Hokage's office. He wasn't even sure if he wanted to stand outside the office and wait. Homura and Koharu weren't people that he liked to deal with, but he definitely wanted to avoid Danzō. There was a certain coldness around the man that Naruto couldn't understand, nor did he particularly want to. He couldn't place it, but it was unsettling, to say the least. Naruto trusted the man about as far as he could throw him.

"Have they been in there long…?" Naruto asked somewhat dejectedly.

Kazuki nodded. "They've been here since Lord Fourth arrived this morning. Before that, even."

"Think they'll take much longer…?" Naruto inquired, trying to regain a little bit of hope, but Kazuki merely shook his head.

"I'm afraid I can't say, Young Lord. There's no telling with the Konoha Honoured Opinion Watch. They'll stay for as long as they feel the need to," Kazuki explained, sounding somewhat apologetic.

"Well…maybe I can wait somewhere-" Naruto started, but he didn't get very far as the sound of voices began to drift down the stairs. Naruto immediately recognised the disgruntled voices as Homura and Koharu, and he had a feeling that Danzō would be right behind them, as usual. His hypothesis was proven correct minutes later as Homura, with his unkempt grey hair and beard, became visible on the stairs first. The elderly shinobi was dressed in a long blue kimono covered by a beige haori, a white poncho-like item of clothing covering his shoulders. His dark eyes were barely visible behind the light reflecting off the lenses of his green glasses.

Behind him followed Koharu, her grey hair pulled back into a twin bun, held in place by the same hair pin with the red pearls that she always wore. Long pearl earrings hung from her ears, and she wore her usual formal outfit—a long brownish-grey kimono tied with a red obi. Over the top of this, she wore a greyish jacket of sorts, and a white sash over her left shoulder.

Following behind her was the man Naruto had perhaps wanted to see least—Shimura Danzō. His shaggy black hair was held up by the bandages that circled his head and covered his right eye, which he had supposedly lost during the war. He wore a white shirt and dark grey robes that were tied with purple cloth. As he turned to look in Naruto's direction, Naruto couldn't help but notice the odd cross-shaped scar on his chin. The group fell silent as they approached, and when Danzō finally spoke, he didn't even bother to look down at Naruto, as though he wasn't even worth doing that much for.

"Good afternoon, Young Lord…" he grumbled, taking a quick glance down at Naruto, or rather the forehead protector that he wore. "Does this warrant… _congratulations_ …?"

The note of disgust in Danzō's voice didn't escape Naruto, yet he did his best to ignore it, regardless. As usual, Naruto went through the motions of greeting the Konoha Honoured Opinion Watch, bowing slightly despite the sour expressions on their faces. He didn't address Danzō's comment, hoping that the old man would keep walking, only to feel his heart sink as the group slowed to a stop beside him.

"This means that your mischief making days are over, I hope," Naruto heard Homaru say bluntly as he stood up straight. Naruto took a deep breath to avoid saying something he might regret.

"Absolutely," was Naruto's simple response. _The shorted the answer, the faster they'll leave…_

"Do your best to be an asset to the Village, boy," Danzō told him, eyes narrowing dangerously. "A shinobi can be fired for misbehaving." There was a long moment of silence, and Danzō let out a long sigh. "What's your opinion on the Uchiha clan, boy?"

Naruto didn't startle. He knew that the Konoha Honoured Opinion Watch weren't exactly fans of several clans in the Village, least of all the Uchiha clan. For the life of him, Naruto couldn't figure out why. Aside from Sasuke, he'd only ever had positive interactions from the Uchiha clan. They respected his father, and they were just about the only people in the Village who respected him. As such, Naruto's practiced, but previously unused, response was immediate.

"I believe that they are good people. They hold great respect for the Hokage, they are loyal, they are a powerful asset to their Village, and the police force does an excellent job of keeping the people safe," Naruto told Danzō, trying not to sound too robotic as he rattled off his rehearsed lines.

Danzō scoffed, and Naruto had to bite his cheek to keep himself from scowling. "I see you've… _inherited_ your father's naivety…" Danzō muttered, almost too quiet for Naruto to hear, and without another word, the elderly shinobi made their way down the hallway, leaving Naruto with a million unused curses buzzing angrily around his head.

 _Keep your cool for Dad's sake…_ Naruto reminded himself, taking a deep breath as they rounded the corner. _Now's not the time…_

Thus, it was with another deep breath that Naruto turned from Kazuki, afraid of what he might say if he opened his mouth. This was no different from his little squabble with Sasuke earlier, he decided as Kazuki seemed to melt into the shadows once more, taking this little incident as his cue to leave. No. This was a special day, and he'd be damned if he'd let _them_ ruin it for him. Mourning the loss of the spring in his step from earlier, Naruto wordlessly headed up the stairs and down the hallway to his father's office, and by the time he reached it, anticipating the conversation he was soon to have, the smile was back on his face once more, almost as if nothing had ever happened.

Naruto knocked at the door, waiting until he heard a muffled, "Enter," from the other side. The expression on his father's face, he decided as he opened the door, was worth every boring second of studying he ever did. At the mere sight of the forehead protector that he proudly wore, Minato's face lit up like Christmas, and had it not been unbecoming of a man like the Hokage, Naruto could almost have envisioned his father leaping straight over the table just to get a better look at him. Instead, he took the rather more respectable long way around, barely able to contain himself if the delighted spring in his step was any indication.

"I passed," Naruto told Minato with a grin, even if such words felt a little redundant, the proof wrapped around his forehead in solid metal.

"Of course you did!" Minato exclaimed, sweeping his son up into a tight hug, eyes brighter than they had looked in years, as though the tiredness that constantly plagued him had been wiped away by the simple sight of that forehead protector. "No son of mine was going to fail! Tell me, what were your grades for the practical portion like?"

Naruto deflated. "Ah… Uh… Well…" Naruto stuttered, averting his gaze. "Well…Iruka-sensei and Mizuki-sensei had…differing opinions…"

"Eh…?" was Minato's confused response, his brows furrowing as he tried to understand what Naruto was trying to tell him.

"Well, I passed, and Iruka-sensei was really impressed! He said he wanted to give me the highest marks in the class…but Mizuki-sensei didn't have the same opinion…" Naruto muttered, a sudden self-conscious feeling overwhelming him. It felt as though his father's gaze was boring into him, and he couldn't bring himself to look for fear of seeing disappointment in his eyes. "He said it wasn't the right jutsu and…wanted to fail me…so Iruka-sensei had to compromise and cut the marks I got for my practical in half… Sorry, Dad…"

Any words that might have followed—apologies for not doing well enough, and for disappointing him, and for being an embarrassing, rotten excuse for a son—went unsaid. Naruto gritted his teeth. He'd been determined not to let this get to him. It had meant so little to him the moment Iruka-sensei had told him how much faith he had in him, and how proud he was of him. He'd been floating on air almost the entire way to the office, bar a few hiccups. Now, in front of his father, the harsh reality of his own circumstances seemed to cruelly slap him in the face, bringing the emotional rollercoaster of the day to an abrupt, depressing end.

It was as though, just for a moment, he had forgotten who he was. Who he represented.

He wasn't allowed to do that.

"Sorry for what?"

Naruto jumped, startled by his father's voice. He chanced a look, eyes meeting only a puzzled expression. Minato's expression brightened, but he tilted his head slightly, as though still confused. His father, Naruto decided, simply hadn't seen the glaring problem that was staring him right in the face. Did he need to spell it out for him? His father wasn't that dense, surely!

"You passed," Minato stated as though that settled the matter, his grin only widening. "Not coming first is nothing to be ashamed of. _I_ didn't come first, either. Heck, I nearly failed one of my practical tests when Henge no Jutsu came up that year. I _would_ have, too, had it not been for Ren taking the time to teach me. No, _he_ came first. He was always the smart one…"

Minato trailed off wistfully, his attention and gaze seemingly drifting. Naruto remembered that name. He had never met the man, but Ren, he knew, had been an old teammate of his father's back when he was young. He had fought for the shaky peace their world enjoyed today, but he had died in the war long before Naruto had been born. It was something that Minato and his remaining teammate, Takuma, didn't like to talk much about.

Naruto supposed that envisioning the loss of that sort of bond was beyond one who had never had or valued teammates in such a way before, but at the same time, he could respect it. The world that Naruto lived in wasn't experiencing true peace. He knew that well. There had been many invasions, even within Naruto's lifetime, amongst them the Hyūga Affair with Kumogakure, multiple attacks by nukenin, the attack the day he was born where his parents had killed the Kyūbi, and even the attack of the previous night. It was a dangerous time. The peace that they had was shaky at best, and many countries were all too willing to start another war. Even though this sat in the back of Naruto's mind, just as it did for every shinobi, and even for the students at the Academy, Naruto had long since decided to maintain a healthy distance from losing a teammate if he could.

Suddenly, it was though Minato snapped back to reality, and Naruto's thoughts followed suit. Minato smiled again, but there was a hint of sadness there, not aimed at Naruto, but at something completely different. What was distracting him was obvious, and Naruto couldn't help but feel apologetic for bringing the memory of Ren's death up, even if he hadn't knowingly done so.

Naruto looked on as his father slowly pulled him in for a hug, arms encircling him gently. Minato rested his chin on Naruto's shoulder and held him as close as he could, his wavering voice barely more than a whisper as he said, "I'm _so_ proud of you, son… You've come such a long, _long_ way…"

As if compelled, Naruto mirrored his father, returning the soft hug, despite how foreign the concept of hugging was to a young man like him.

 _I'm proud of you, too, Dad._


End file.
